A common question that comes up is notice periods

More specifically, can my employer sack me without notice during my probationary period?

The length of a typical probationary period varies from one month to six months. The length of your probationary period is in fact irrelevant for the purposes of calculating your notice entitlement or commonly known as notice periods.

During the first month of your employment your employment can be terminated without notice by either party. As such, if you started working for this employer less than one month ago they can sack you without notice.

Once you have been employed for a month, your employer is required to give you notice of one week to terminate your employment. After two years continuous service you become entitled to two weeks’ notice. Thereafter, your notice entitlement increases by one week for each year of continuous service up to a maximum of twelve weeks.

These notice periods are the minimum notice periods to which you are entitled. In some cases your contract of employment will set out longer notice periods. You should therefore refer to your contract in the first instance.

If you have any concerns about a dismissal, or if you believe that you have been dismissed for a discriminatory or other unfair reason please contact me as soon as possible. There are tight deadlines for submitting claims in the employment tribunal.

If you have any queries about this or any other aspect of employment law please do not hesitate to contact me on 01789 336 957 or amanda@pillingerandassociates.co.uk