PROBABTION PERIOD

I recently joined a company and on my contract, it said the probation period is 1 year. i have now found out that another person that started the same time as me, had a probabtion period of 6 mths. we both came in at the same level and have same experience. i also found out that other people in the company were made permanent after 6 months as well.
can i say anything to the comapny to change this?

I certainly wouldn't see any harm in just inquiring about why your probation period is so long. It may have been a mistake by HR.

No harm in enquiring as mentioned above but I'm not aware of any statutory impediment to a company agreeing different probationary periods on an individual basis.

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I wouldn't get too hung up on the length of (or indeed any aspect of) the period of probation.

The reality is that an employer can terminate anyone's employment, for any reason, within the first 12 months month.

Once it goes beyond 12 months, the employee benefits from the protection of all employment law and, unless guilty of an act of gross misconduct or made redundant, is virtually unsackable.

The so-called probationary period is, essentially, worthless.

thanks for the replies.
i am just wondering/worried why i have a 12 month probation period as against others who started as the same time as me, have 6 mths..
it is a male dominated company and my gut feeling is that they are afraid that i will get pregnant..i already have 2 kids ....

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Again, it makes no difference. Your employment can be terminated within 12 months anyway - even if you completed a six-month probationary period.

However, if may also interest you to know that if you were pregnant, your company would find it very difficult to terminate your employment - even within the initial 12 month period. If you were to claim that the termination was related to your being pregnant (and there would be a huge onus on them to prove otherwise), you wouldn't need to have accumulated 12 months' service to avail of the relevant protection.

The attached extract from ETE's site refers.

"How long do I have to be employed to be able to take a case for Unfair Dismissal?
The Acts apply to employees who (with certain exceptions, see below) have had at least a year's continuous service with the same employer.

-the employees trade union membership or activities, either outside working hours or at those times during working hours when permitted by the employer,
-the employee's pregnancy, giving birth or breastfeeding or any matters connected therewith,
-the exercise or proposed exercise by an employee of the right to any form of protective leave or natal care absence under the Maternity Protection Act 1994,
-the exercise or proposed exercise by an employee of -the right to adoptive leave or additional adoptive leave under the Adoptive Leave Act 1995,
-the exercise or proposed exercise by the employee of the right to parental leave or force majeure leave under the Parental Leave Act 1998,
-the employee's rights or proposed exercise of rights under the National Minimum Wage Act 2000.
-the exercise or proposed exercise by the employee of the right to carer's leave under and in accordance with the Carers Leave Act 2001.

Employees claiming dismissal due to the above grounds may bring an unfair dismissal claim even though they do not have a year's continuous service with their employer."

www.entemp.ie/employment/...#dismissal

spacer..thanks for that info...
i am a bit relieved to hear that....

probationary period

My company would usually offer a shorter probationary period to somebody who is already in employment, i.e. somebody who would be effectively leaving a job to come to our company.

In the case of somebody who might not have recent experience or might be a school/ college leaver, then the probationary period would be longer....

Usually though, we would go 3 months for the former, and 6 months for the latter. One year is unusual in the private sector..