Can an employer use an unpaid work trial as part of a recruitment process?
Published on: 06/08/2019
Issues Covered:
Article Authors The main content of this article was provided by the following authors.
Johanna Cunningham Senior Associate, Lewis Silkin (NI) LLP
Johanna Cunningham Senior Associate, Lewis Silkin (NI) LLP
Johanna cunningham

Since qualifying in 2018, Johanna has supported clients with disciplinary and grievance issues, defending employment tribunal claims, senior exits, redundancies, TUPE, and day-to-day HR queries. She also has a strong interest in the overlap between employment law and data protection, regularly advising on subject access requests, data breaches, employee monitoring, and matters involving cross-border workers.

Can an employer use an unpaid work trial as part of a recruitment process?

Work trials can be a useful tool for employers and can form a legitimate part of a recruitment exercise by enabling employers to observe how a candidate performs in a real work setting before formally choosing to hire the candidate.

If the candidate performs to a high standard during the trial period, it will show the employer that they will be capable of carrying out the job role. Trial periods are often unpaid and therefore are sometimes frowned upon by trade unions and the general public.

Unfortunately, there is no specific legislation which governs this area of employment law. However, a good starting point is the

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Disclaimer The information in this article is provided as part of Legal Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article. This article is correct at 06/08/2019