Contract terminated during 90 day trial
Need some NZ employment law advice regarding a 90-day trial termination because the whole situation feels off and I’m trying to work out if I actually have any grounds here or if this is just how trial periods work.
I started working for a retail company in Christchurch on 22 April and got terminated on 20 May, so still well within the 90-day trial period.
The reason I was given was:
“You’re not fit for the role moving forward.”
What’s confusing me is that my actual performance never seemed to be an issue at all.
During the 4 weeks I worked there:
- I worked every scheduled shift with no days off
- I made the company around 70k in sales myself
- I was hitting targets
- I was consistently being told I was doing a good job
- they were talking about ordering my uniform
- I never received any warnings
- no formal meetings
- no performance concerns raised
- and honestly barely any actual training either
At the same time though, I genuinely felt like my manager and some of the staff treated me poorly from pretty early on.
Things got noticeably weird after I told my manager my partner was pregnant and due in around 6 weeks (now around 2 weeks away).
I told him I didn’t expect heaps of time off but just asked if there was any chance I could maybe get half a week to a week off after the birth to support my partner and newborn.
On the phone he was really blunt and cold about it. Then about an hour later he messaged me saying:
“Forgot to say congratulations, of course you can have some time off to be with your family.”
The next day at work he literally told me he only sent that message because his Mrs was sitting next to him and said he sounded rude on the phone.
After that, his whole attitude toward me changed. He became really cold, avoided talking to me, wouldn’t give me the time of day, and I honestly started feeling like they had already decided I was gone.
The day before I got terminated I actually messaged him because I could tell something was wrong. He never even opened the message, never brought it up at work, and then the very next day I got called in and terminated.
During the termination meeting he was smirking the whole time and saying he wasn’t obligated to tell me why. He then told me I could either work out my 1 week notice or I wouldn’t get paid.
Straight after the meeting I got removed from all work chats/groups.
Another weird thing:
Another employee who started around the same time barely showed up to work at all (literally second time showing up in 5 weeks) and he came back the exact same day I got terminated.
I understand 90-day trial periods give employers a lot of protection in NZ, but I’m trying to understand whether any of this potentially crosses into:
- bad faith,
- misleading conduct,
- discrimination relating to family status/pregnancy,
- or if it’s still likely considered a lawful termination even if it feels dodgy.
I also requested all personal information they hold about me under the Privacy Act.
HR responded by sending me:
- my employment agreement
- and saying there is “no further personal information held regarding my employment.”
But when I looked at the agreement, I realised I’m literally the only person who signed it. There’s no employer signature on the contract at all, and I never received a copy signed by both parties before I started.
So now I’m also wondering:
- does that affect whether the 90-day trial is valid?
- can they legally terminate someone for “not being the right fit” while apparently holding zero performance notes, warnings, assessments, HR notes, etc?
- and does the timing around me mentioning needing time off for my newborn sound suspicious or am I reading too much into it?
Just looking for honest NZ employment law opinions or similar experiences because the whole thing feels really off.