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Asia Pacific Legal Update | Q1 2024
Asia Pacific
2. Trial periods extended for all employers
With effect from 23 December 2023, the Employment Relations (Trial Periods) Amendment Act 2023 permits all businesses to include a 90-day trial period in a new
employment agreement. Previously, 90-day trial periods only applied to employers with fewer than 20 employees.
The trial period must be agreed in writing before the employee starts work and agreed in good faith (an employee cannot be forced into agreeing to a trial period).
Also, employees cannot be placed on a trial period if they have worked for that employer before. During the 90-day trial period the employer may dismiss the
employee and the employee would not be entitled to bring a grievance or other legal proceedings in respect of the dismissal except in cases where the personal
grievance is unrelated to the dismissal.
Employers wanting to use 90-day trial periods for new employees in 2024 will need to update their employment agreements.
