Petition Unprotected first year of employment

Petition the government to formalise and extend protection for employees within their first year of employment.

Currently employers can (and do) dismiss employees in their first year of employment for any reasons (except overt discrimination on the grounds of age, ethnicity, sexuality, race, religion, gender etc.) and solicitors are unwilling to contest such dismissals within this first year.

In the first year of employment individuals may take on mortgages, loans and other financial obligations which then leave them in difficulty once they are dismissed. As such individuals should be entitled to protection from the beginning to the end of employment. Employers should be legally obliged to fullfill the terms of the contract of employment regarding dismissal including the full use of a probationary period and clearly defined and adhered to probationary procedure.