Trial Periods Under Threat

Labour’s first 100 day plan includes significant changes to the 90 day trial period. Currently an employee engaged on a trial period is barred from raising a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal, however Labour plans to change this. 

If the legislation is reformed as the Labour manifesto suggests, trial periods will still exist however an employee will be able to raise a personal grievance if they are dismissed. It raises the question of what the purpose of them would be. The difference will be that if a grievance is raised within the trial period, it will be heard by a newly formed ‘referee service’, that will hear the grievance within three weeks. 

The referee will have the power to reinstate the employee and award compensation up to a set limit – an amount yet to be identified. Labour intends to make reinstatement the primary remedy in all dismissal claims. There will be no right of appeal, and neither party will be able to be represented by a lawyer. Advocates and union representatives will be able to attend the hearings. 

It will be very interesting to see the detail of the legislation change, and the practicalities of how this ‘referee service’ will be set up. Irrespective of the detail, the intent is clear – trial periods will no longer be a minimal risk method of trialling employees. Recruitment and selection processes will be even more important to get right.