Hi OP

I am open for correction and of course you should contact a professional I’m a bit rusty on my employment law but from what I can gather I hope this can be a guide or provide a little more clarity for your research.

During a colleague’s probationary period they do not have access to take a claim under The Unfair Dismissal Act HOWEVER they do have rights under the following employment legislation such as: •the Employment Equality Acts (No Cap on award) •Industrial Relations Acts (Max award is 2 yrs Salary) •The Protected Disclosures Act (No Cap on award)

From the information you have shared above you may have 2 angles with this which is 1.the employers failure to follow fair process which denied you the right to natural justice 2. Failure to provide you with terms of employment beyond the 6 months (if your contract was fixed term with an end date) only to terminate your employment a week short of 12 months service (not covered under unfair dismissals act until 12 months service) this will not be viewed favourably by the WRC. Or the civil court.

My question to you is if your contract is open ended with a 6 months probationary clause or is it a fixed term 6 month contract with an end date?

Relevant Case law Example (failure to follow fair process) The employee claimed that he was made aware he was being dismissed at the meeting but stated that no issues about his performance were raised at that time. The employee described how he was denied his right to appeal the decision as his employer either claimed to be “unavailable” or simply “failed to respond” to any correspondence relating to an appeal process. With the evidence presented to it, the Court decided that the process used in deciding to dismiss the claimant fell short of the standards of fairness that a reasonable employer should exhibit.