Probation Period · Trial Employment Contract
Probation Period
What is a probation period?
- Probation and trial employment differ in legal nature
- A refusal to confirm permanent employment also needs a reasonable cause
- Notice of criteria, mid-term feedback and evaluation records are the heart of the process
What this distinction changes in practice is the meaning of the end date. A susup is a period of training someone whose hiring is already settled, so nothing happens on the end date. In a siyong, the end date is itself the point at which the decision on permanent hire is made. So the wording on the contract at the start of day one determines whether, three months later, the company can say “based on the evaluation, we will not make you permanent.” Without any reservation language in the contract, the company is treated as having made a regular hire from the start, and a termination notice is handled as an ordinary dismissal.
In practice, the conditions that matter are usually numbers. A minimum wage reduction is allowed only for contracts of one year or longer, only within the first 3 months of probation, and only up to 10%. It does not apply to simple manual labor. Dismissal notice is waived for employees with under 3 months of continuous service, but that only means there is no notice obligation; it does not make the dismissal itself justified. Refusing to confirm permanent employment also requires written notice. If you communicate it verbally or by messenger, without a written notice stating the specific reasons for refusal, its validity is shaky regardless of the substance. Laws and case law can change, so we recommend confirming with a labor law specialist before applying this.
Mixing it up with neighboring arrangements brings the whole design down. A fixed-term contract ends automatically when the term expires. With a probationary period, the employment relationship by default continues after the period ends, so it only ends if the company states that it refuses to hire. A hiring-track internship is also subject to probation doctrine if, in substance, it is a suitability review. The classic case is the verbal promise "We'll try you on a 3-month fixed-term contract, and if it goes well, you become permanent". Once repeated renewals and a practice of conversion to permanent status build up, it is easily judged fixed-term in form, probationary in substance. An extension of the probation also cannot be imposed unilaterally unless the contract states its basis and a cap.
The most common misconception is, “It’s probation, so we can let them go any time within three months.” Notify someone that they “don’t fit the team culture” without a single evaluation form, and if it is ruled an unfair dismissal, you bear reinstatement plus back pay for the dismissal period, and the seat you already filled is thrown into doubt again. Conversely, even with thorough evaluations, if no record of interim feedback exists, the dismissal can be overturned for failing to give the employee a chance to improve. Once a dispute starts, the first question the Labor Relations Commission usually asks is whether the evaluation criteria were given to the employee in writing at the time of hire.
Kyungtae KimHR expert · Organizational culture and HR strategy consultant
Hwi KimCEO of HRDIST & talent development systems consultantThe concept comes from the practice of checking a hire’s suitability for a set period after signing the employment contract. In Korea, courts distinguish the legal nature of a training-type probation (susup) from a trial-type probation (siyong) and have developed the standards for when refusing permanent hire is justified.
Here is the case of Company A, a food-ingredient distributor in the Seoul metropolitan area. It has 140 employees and KRW 48 billion (≈ US$35,912,000) in annual revenue. Turnover in warehouse and delivery roles is high: in one year it hired 32 people, and 7 of them did not complete the 3-month probation. Last year, 2 employees who were told their probation was ending filed relief applications with the Regional Labor Relations Commission, and the company lost one case because it had given no written notice. (Hypothetical example)
- When the head of management support pulled 96 employment contracts from the past two years, every one had just a single line, '3-month probation,' and the company's labor attorney put it bluntly: "This isn't a trial period. It's just a regular hire."
- They rewrote the contract with a probationary clause covering a 3-month period and 5 evaluation items (shipping accuracy, safety rules, attendance, collaboration, vehicle care), and required every new hire to sign an acknowledgment of evaluation criteria on the first day.
- They made a week-6 check-in meeting mandatory and had the site team leader write a one-page record. HR asked that it use numbers, such as "Shipping errors are at 3 per week and must come down to 2 or fewer."
- Two weeks before the end, the site team leader and the HR manager each score the employee. If their scores differ by 20 points or more, a reconciliation meeting chaired by the CEO is held, so no decision rests on one person's opinion.
- When refusing to confirm permanent hire, they delivered a written notice with the evaluation results and specific facts 10 days before the end. One year later, relief applications fell from 2 to 0, and mid-probation departures fell from 7 to 3. All 4 refusals were resolved with no objection.