Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

Manager

International Company

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Industrial Relations Act 1969

CA-00051524-001

04/07/2022

The employee commenced employment on 13 December 2021.  His salary was €130,000 per annum.  His contract of employment contained a six-month probation period.  The employee’s performance was not reviewed between December 2021 and early June 2022.  On 09 June 2022 the employee’s probation period was extended for 3 weeks.  His employment was terminated on 30 June 2022.  No issues with his work or conduct had been raised during his probation until the 09 June 2022.  The employee claims he was unfairly dismissed.

The employer is an international company providing recruitment and contractor services worldwide.  The employee commenced employment on 13 December 2021 as the DevOps Manager.  He was based in Ireland and reported to a manager, Mr S, who was based in the United States.  All meetings between the employee and his manager were held remotely.

The employee’s contract of employment contained a six-month probation clause.  Between December 2021 and early June 2022 there was no review of performance.  The employee raised the issue of a performance review with his manager as he was approaching the end of six months employment. 

On 09 June 2022 the employee and his manager, Mr S, had a one-to-one TEAMS meeting scheduled.  It was normal practice to have such a meeting every couple of weeks.  When the employee joined the meeting, he was surprised to find a representative of the HR department, Ms L, attending the meeting.  The employee had not been told the purpose of this meeting.  At the meeting the employee was informed that his work had not been as good as expected and that his probation period would be extended by 3 weeks to the end of June 2022.  The employee stated that his manager told him that if he did not achieve certain tasks in the extension period “we will part company”.  The employee was presented with a list of six tasks that he should work on over the following three weeks.

The employee stated that at the end of each following week he sent an email to his manager setting out in detail the steps he had taken to implement change on the list of six items.  He did not receive feedback or any reply to these emails.

On 30 June 2022 the employee was called to attend a virtual meeting with his manager Mr S and the HR representative Ms L.  The employee was informed that his work was not good enough and that his contract would not be continued.

The employee provided copies of the detailed emails he had sent to his manager in June 2022 providing an ongoing update on the tasks he had been set on 09 June. 

The employee stated that during his employment he did not have a performance review.   He did not receive negative feedback on his performance or conduct until his probation was extended by three weeks.  The employee had no opportunity to improve as he had not been made aware of anything lacking in his performance of his duties.  During the three-week extension he did not receive any review of his performance on the tasks he had been set. 

The employee was of the view the decision to terminate his employment had been made before his probation was extended as his manager had stated “we will part company” if the six tasks were not carried out to his satisfaction.

The employee claims he was unfairly dismissed and seeks an apology from the employer together with compensation equal to one months’ salary and pension contributions.

I am satisfied that the employer was on notice of this dispute and was notified of the date, time and location of the hearing.  There was no appearance by or on behalf of the employer.

In conducting my investigation, I have considered all relevant submissions presented to me.

The employee held a senior position with the employing company.  His contract included a probation period of six months.  The contract states that during the probation period “Your performance and suitability for continued employment will be monitored”.  Based on the uncontested statements of the employee I am satisfied that during his probation period he did not receive any review of his performance and was not given any indication that his performance was not at the required standard. 

An employer is entitled to terminate employment during probation where the employee is not achieving the standard required.  However, fairness and best practice require that the employee should be made aware of any under performance and be given an opportunity to improve during the probation period.  In this case the employee was not told of any underperformance until a few days before the end of his probation period.  The probation period was then extended by just three weeks.

I am satisfied that the employee was not made aware of any underperformance during his probation period, and he was not given a fair opportunity to improve his performance.  The employee was not told the purpose of the meeting of 09 June 2022.  At that meeting he was assigned tasks that could not be completed in the following three weeks.  The employee diligently set about the six tasks and reported each week to his manager on progress.  However, the manager did not even bother to respond or provide any constructive feedback on the employee’s progress. 

The employee stated he was very shaken by the way he was treated by the employer.  However, he did manage to obtain work as a contractor six weeks after his termination.  The employee was a member of the pension scheme but as the vesting period had not completed at the time of termination, he lost the benefit of six months contributions from the employer, equal to €3,250.

I have carefully considered all the circumstances, as set out by the employee and uncontested by the employer, and it is my opinion that he was unfairly dismissed.  Therefore, I recommend that the employer pay to the employee compensation for his unfair dismissal in the amount of €13,250.

Unfair Dismissal

Probation

Performance Review