You hired a salesperson ten days ago and it is not working out. You tell yourself you are still in the trial period, so you can let them go tomorrow morning owing nothing. That was true until day seven: after at least one week of work, article 13 of the Labour Code requires two or eight days’ notice depending on how often the employee is paid, unless there is gross misconduct.
Five things to remember
- The duration depends on the category: on a permanent contract, three months for cadres and equivalent, one month and a half for employees, fifteen days for workers.
- Renewal happens once only: the trial period may be renewed a single time, never twice.
- On a fixed-term contract it is far shorter: one day per week worked capped at two weeks for a contract under six months, one month for a longer one.
- The first week is the only real freedom: before it, either party may end the contract with no notice and no indemnity; after it, notice is required.
- The contract may shorten it, never lengthen it: an agreement, a collective agreement or the internal rules may set less, not more.
1. How long the trial period lasts
Article 14 of the Labour Code sets the maximum durations, and they depend neither on the job title you invented nor on the size of the business: they depend on the employee’s occupational category and on the type of contract you signed.
| Situation | Maximum trial period | Renewal |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent contract — cadres and equivalent | 3 months | Once only |
| Permanent contract — employees | 1 month and a half | Once only |
| Permanent contract — workers | 15 days | Once only |
| Fixed-term contract under six months | 1 day per week worked, capped at 2 weeks | Not provided for by article 14 |
| Fixed-term contract over six months | 1 month | Not provided for by article 14 |
These durations are ceilings. The employment contract, a collective agreement or the internal rules may provide for shorter periods; none of them may provide for a longer one. A clause announcing six months of trial for an employee lengthens nothing: it simply displays a duration the Code does not recognise.
Renewal, for its part, is possible only once. An employer who extends a second time because he is “still not sure” steps outside the legal frame, and ends up terminating a contract that is no longer on trial, under the very rules he thought he was avoiding.
2. Running the trial so that it is worth something
The Code sets a duration, not a content: it does not say what the trial period must contain, nor how it should be monitored. That is left to the contract and to you, and a trial period that teaches you nothing is one nobody organised.
- Write the trial period into the contract, with its duration: the law frames it, but the contract is what puts it in place.
- Record the exact date of the first day actually worked: every calculation, including the first week, starts from there.
- Decide up front what you are observing: speed at the till, stock handling, punctuality, customer manner — name three or four points, not fifteen.
- Schedule a mid-point review rather than a verdict at the end: it is the only moment when a correction is still possible.
- Keep a written trace of what you observe as you go, even two lines a week.
- If you renew, do it before the period expires and only once: a renewal decided afterwards does not repair a period that has already ended.
The Code says nothing about the form of the renewal or about review meetings: it is silent, and that silence is settled in the contract. Write there how a renewal is notified and within what time, otherwise you will end up arguing from memory.
3. Ending the trial period: the rule most employers get wrong
Article 13 is the heart of the subject, and it reads in two stages. During the trial period, either party may end the contract with no notice and no indemnity. But that complete freedom does not last for the whole period.
- Less than one week of work: The contract may be ended with no notice and no indemnity, by the employer as by the employee. This is the only window in which “we are on trial, so nothing is owed” is actually accurate.
- After at least one week of work: Termination on the employer’s initiative, for anything other than gross misconduct, now requires notice: two days if the employee is paid by the day, by the week or by the fortnight; eight days if that employee is paid monthly.
- In case of gross misconduct: No notice is required, including after the first week. But it is the gross misconduct that must genuinely exist, not merely your need to move fast.
- Once the trial period has expired: You are no longer on trial: dismissing the employee, other than for gross misconduct, requires at least eight days’ notice.
The line that costs money is the second one. Many employers remember “during the trial, no notice” and stop there. The text says something else: the exemption from notice covers the very first week of work, and after that the delay comes back, short but real, and pegged to the way you pay the employee.
Two days or eight days sounds like very little. It is nonetheless the difference between a clean end to a working relationship and a dispute in which you are asked to justify an immediate termination that nothing made immediate.
“We are still on trial, so I can let him go tomorrow”: false from day eight onward
This is the most frequent and most expensive mistake in the whole subject. Article 13 does allow termination with no notice and no indemnity during the trial period, but it immediately adds a condition almost nobody remembers: after at least one week of work, a termination decided by the employer other than for gross misconduct requires two days’ notice for an employee paid by the day, the week or the fortnight, and eight days’ notice for an employee paid monthly. An immediate termination after three weeks, with no gross misconduct, does not stand up.
4. The calendar, from day one to the exit
Take a concrete case: an employee paid monthly, hired on a permanent contract on the 2nd of the month. The maximum trial period is one month and a half, and the notice clock starts running well before that.
- Day 1: the contract starts, the trial period runs, the date is recorded.
- Days 1 to 7: either side may end it with no notice and no indemnity.
- From the second week onward: ending it other than for gross misconduct requires eight days’ notice, since this employee is paid monthly.
- Around the halfway mark: the mid-point review with the employee, in writing, saying plainly what works in the job and what does not.
- Before expiry: either you confirm, or you terminate, or you renew — once only.
- After expiry: the trial period is over, and a dismissal other than for gross misconduct requires at least eight days’ notice.
If you are still hesitating about the type of contract itself, that question comes first: our guide to permanent or fixed-term contracts explains why a doubt about a person is handled by the trial period and not by a short contract.
Mistakes to avoid
- Announcing six months of trial to an employee when the legal maximum is one month and a half.
- Renewing the trial period a second time, when only one renewal is possible.
- Believing the exemption from notice covers the whole trial period rather than the first week alone.
- Applying eight days’ notice to an employee paid by the fortnight, or two days to one paid monthly.
- Recording the first day actually worked nowhere, then arguing about the count afterwards.
- Letting the trial period expire without deciding anything, then terminating as if you were still inside it.
Frequently asked questions
How long can a trial period last on a permanent contract?
Three months for cadres and equivalent, one month and a half for employees, fifteen days for workers. These are maximums set by article 14: the contract may provide for less, never for more.
Can a trial period be renewed?
Yes, but only once. A second renewal is not provided for, and a contract that continues beyond that is no longer on trial: it is then ended under the rules that apply after expiry.
Is notice required to end a contract during the trial period?
Not during the first week of work: it may be ended with no notice and no indemnity. After at least one week, and other than for gross misconduct, two days’ notice is required if the employee is paid by the day, the week or the fortnight, and eight days if paid monthly.
How long is the trial period on a fixed-term contract?
For a contract under six months, one day per week worked, capped at two weeks. For a contract over six months, one month. That is considerably shorter than on a permanent contract.
What happens once the trial period has expired?
You leave the trial regime. Dismissing the employee, other than for gross misconduct, requires at least eight days’ notice, and the termination follows the ordinary rules governing the contract.
What to take away
Write the trial period into the contract with the right duration for the category, record the date of the first day worked, and mark day seven in your diary: that is where the freedom to end it without notice stops. Set a mid-point review so you decide on facts, and settle the matter before expiry — confirm, terminate with the notice due, or renew once.
Sources
The figures and rules quoted above come from these pages, read on the date given in the article.
Following a new salesperson, day by day
BelloPOS runs offline: the activity log and analytics in BelloPOS Go show what a new employee actually rings up and corrects, which makes a mid-point review factual rather than impressionistic.
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