Mr P Robinson v Octavia Facilities Management Limited — 2024

The claimant was employed by the respondent from 20 March 2023 as assistant operations manager under a contract that included a six-month probationary period. The contract permitted the respondent, if dissatisfied with performance or conduct, either to terminate on one week's notice during or at the end of probation, or to extend the probationary period. The claimant's evidence was that he was told he had passed his probation at the end of the six months; the respondent's position, which altered during the hearing, was that the passing of probation had been conditional on uploading documents to SharePoint within two weeks and that this amounted to an extension of the probationary period.

The tribunal did not hear from Emily James, the operations director who had spoken to the claimant about his probation and who dismissed him; the respondent's only witness was a director, Mr B Ahmed, who was not party to those conversations. Employment Judge Brewer found that for the respondent to establish that the probationary period had been extended there would need to have been clear words to that effect communicated to the claimant, and there was no evidence of this. The judge accepted the claimant's evidence that he had been told he had passed his probation and that this was not made conditional.

On that basis the claimant became entitled to three months' notice on completion of his probation. As he was dismissed on 10 October 2023 with only one week's pay in lieu of notice, and the respondent did not plead or rely on any ground for dismissal without notice, the respondent was in breach of contract. The claimant was awarded the balance of his three-month notice period, being 11 weeks' net pay at £558.75 per week, totalling £6,146.25.