An
employee has been dismissed under a 90 day trial period clause for poor
performance. The employee had previously volunteered at the workplace for a day
prior to signing her employment agreement. The employer referred to this arrangement
as a ‘pre-employment test’.
The
Employment Relations Authority rejected the employee’s personal grievance claim
for unjustified dismissal.
The
ERA held that the 90 day trial clause was effective despite the employee’s
previous work experience for the employer.
The
ERA noted that there had been no discussion of payment for the number of hours
she worked during the pre-employment test, and at no stage had the employee queried
the non-payment, presented a time-sheet for those hours, or requested payment
for that day.
The
ERA found that the employee had not received an offer of employment prior to the
test, and found that the employee’s employment agreement clearly stated the commencement
date of employment as starting a couple of days after the test had taken place.
The
ERA thus found that the employee was justifiably dismissed in accordance with
the trial period clause in her employment agreement.
Alan Knowsley
Employment Lawyer Wellington
No comments:
Post a Comment