Dismissed after 11 months?

Hi.

A colleage of mine is being dismissed after working for our company for 11 months without any real grounds - with one month's notice. I believe they're claiming that it is within a probationary period and therefore that she was an unsuitable choice for the job - not that she actually did anything wrong.

Is this illegal? Can an employee really be dismissed without redundancy pay after 11 months?

Thanks.

Hi nottRobin

Employees need one year's service in order to bring an unfair dismissal claim in normal circumstances, so it sounds like your colleague will have no claim. This service criterion does not apply to discrimination claims, so if there were any discriminatory grounds behind the dismissal (e.g. if she had just told them she was pregnant) then she may be able to bring a discrimination claim.

Regards

pete