We have an employee who started as a trainee on 28th September 2010. I put him on a short term contract of six weeks to six months duration. He signed it on 23.09.10. He was on six months probation. On 14.04.11 he signed another temporary contract with a 12 month probation but I did not have any finishing date on it. On 16.01.12 he got a verbal warning On 16.02.12 he got a first written warning On 17.04.12 he got a second written warning Where do I go from here to rectify this situation? I realise that all temporary contracts should have end dates on them but am I now stuck with this under-performing employee?

There are a number of issues raised by this query.

Firstly, what is this employee’s current contractual status? He had an initial fixed term and probationary period. The second contract and probationary period appear more like an open ended contract, as there was no fixed term incorporated. Is the employee still a trainee, and is the contract determinable at the end of that? Was he taken on for a specific project or task? All these factors may affect whether the contract is determinable. More information would be required, to assess the true status. For these purposes, we will assume he is an employee with over 12 months’ service.

As the employee is now out of his probationary period any