Section 67 — Employment Relations Act 2000: Probationary arrangements

67 Probationary arrangements (1) Where the parties to an employment agreement agree as part of the agreement that an employee will serve a period of probation or trial after the commencement of the employment,— (a) the fact of the probation or trial period must be specified in writing in the employment agreement; and (b) neither the fact that the probation or trial period is specified, nor what is specified in respect of it, affects the application of the law relating to unjustifiable dismissal to a situation where the employee is dismissed in reliance on that agreement during or at the end of the probation or trial period. (2) Failure to comply with subsection (1)(a) does not affect the validity of the employment agreement between the parties. (3) However, if the employer does not comply with subsection (1)(a) , the employer may not rely on any term agreed under subsection (1) that the employee serve a period of probation or trial if the employee elects, at any time, to treat that term as ineffective. Subsections (2) and (3) were inserted, as from 1 December 2004, by section 28 Employment Relations Amendment Act (No 2) 2004 (2004 No 86). See section 73 of that Act for the transitional provisions.