POVB – Probation periods in Corrective Services – February 2019 (PDF version)

When you, as a Casual Correctional Officer, are offered full time employment, your letter of offer will say a probation period of six months applies.  However, at the end of that six months you are not given the rank of Correctional Officer Year 1.  Why is this?

This is because there is both a rank of Probationary Correctional Officer and a period of probation under the Government Sector Employment Rules (‘GSER’). Both probationary periods commence at the same time. However, the GSER period generally ends after six months and the Probationary rank after twelve months.

Government Sector Employment Rules – Probation Period

The Government Sector Employment Rules allow Corrective Services to impose a probationary period of employment, which is normally six months.  During, or at the end of that six months, Corrective Services may choose to confirm or terminate your employment.

During this probation period you are unable to appeal to the IRC for disciplinary or unfair dismissal matters.

Probationary Correctional Officer to Correctional Officer 1st Year

Once an officer has held the rank of Probationary Correctional Officer for one year, they are eligible to progress to the rank of Correctional Officer.  This eligibility is subject to completing all required coursework and a satisfactory conduct and performance check.

Sick leave is a major component of the conduct and performance check.  You must have no more than 5 unsupported sick days in a twelve-month period, calculated from the date of the conduct check.

If your sick leave is unsatisfactory, your probationary rank will be extended for three months, at which time a new conduct check will be performed.

Subsequent increments

Subsequent increments, such as progression to Correctional Officer 2nd year, are calculated on twelve-months’ satisfactory conduct and performance at the previous increment.  Therefore, if your previous increment was delayed for three months, your twelve-month period is calculated from the time you received that increment.