90-Day Trials: Your Rights and the Money Risks
Income and Work
📄 What a 90-day trial period is
A 90-day trial period is a clause in an employment agreement that lets an employer dismiss a new employee within the first 90 calendar days without that employee being able to raise a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal. It is a genuine feature of New Zealand employment law, not a scare tactic, and if it is set up correctly it removes one of your most important protections for the first three months of a new job. That does not mean you have no rights at all during a trial, and it does not mean the trial is automatically valid just because it appears in your agreement. The rules on who can use a trial, how it must be written, and when you must sign are strict, and employers get them wrong often. This guide explains what a valid trial actually does, which rights you keep and which you give up, how a trial differs from a probationary period, and, most importantly, the money risks of walking away from a secure job to take a role that starts on a trial. Read it before you sign, because the day to protect yourself is the day the offer arrives, not the day it ends.
Who can use a 90-day trial
Since 23 December 2023, all employers in New Zealand can use a 90-day trial period, no matter how many staff they have. Before that date, trial periods were limited to employers with fewer than 20 employees, so a large company could not put you on one. That limit has now gone. This means you can be offered a 90-day trial by any employer, from a two-person cafe to a large national chain, so you should expect to see the clause in a wider range of job offers than in the past.
A 90-day trial can only be used when you have never worked for that employer before. It cannot be added when you change roles inside a company you already work for, and it cannot be tacked on after you have started. If an employer who already employs you tries to put you on a trial, the trial is not valid.
The rules that make a trial valid
A trial period is only valid if the employer follows every step. Miss one and the whole trial can fall over, which means you keep your full unjustified-dismissal rights. The core rules are:
- It must be in writing. The trial clause has to be written into your individual employment agreement, and the agreement must state that you are on a trial from the very start of your employment.
- You must sign before you start work. If you do not sign the employment agreement before your first day, the trial is not valid. Signing on your first morning, after you have already begun, is too late.
- It cannot last longer than 90 calendar days. Ninety days means ninety calendar days from your start date, not 90 working days.
- It must be agreed in good faith. You are entitled to time to read the agreement and to take advice before you sign.
The single most common mistake is starting work first and signing the paperwork later. If that happens, the trial is invalid and you keep your normal right to challenge an unjustified dismissal. Always check the date you signed against the date you actually started.
⚖️ The rights you keep and the rights you lose
A valid 90-day trial only takes away one specific right: the ability to raise a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal. Every other employment right stays exactly where it was. It helps to see the two lists side by side so you know what is still worth fighting for if a trial ends badly.
What you cannot do during a valid trial
- You cannot raise a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal.
- You cannot force the employer to give you a written reason for the dismissal if you ask for one.
What you can still do during a valid trial
- You can be paid in full for every hour you actually worked.
- You can claim your holiday pay. When a short job ends before you have been there a year, you are owed 8% of your gross earnings as holiday pay under the Holidays Act 2003.
- You can raise a personal grievance for discrimination, for sexual or racial harassment, or for unjustified disadvantage that is not the dismissal itself.
- You can raise a grievance if the employer bullies you, breaches good faith, or dismisses you for a reason the trial does not cover, such as your race, gender, disability, age, religion or union membership.
| Situation | Can you raise a personal grievance? |
|---|---|
| Dismissed on a valid trial, no reason given | No, not for unjustified dismissal |
| Dismissed because of your ethnicity or disability | Yes, for discrimination |
| Sexually or racially harassed at work | Yes, for harassment |
| Not paid for hours you worked | Yes, this is a wage claim, not covered by the trial |
| Holiday pay left out of your final pay | Yes, you are owed 8% of gross earnings |
Notice must still be given
A 90-day trial does not let an employer walk you out with nothing. If they dismiss you during the trial, they must still give you the notice set out in your employment agreement, unless the dismissal is for serious misconduct. If your agreement says two weeks notice, you get two weeks of notice or two weeks of pay in place of that notice. If the agreement is silent on notice, a reasonable period of notice applies. Check your agreement so you know what your notice is worth before you ever need it.
The employer does not have to give you a written reason for a trial dismissal, but there is no harm in asking. If the reason they give points to discrimination or harassment, that can open the door to a grievance the trial does not block. Keep any emails or messages that explain why you were let go.
💰 Trial periods, probation, and the money at stake
A trial period is not a probationary period
People use the words trial and probation as if they mean the same thing. In New Zealand law they are very different, and the difference is worth real money. A 90-day trial removes your right to claim unjustified dismissal for the first 90 days. A probationary period does not remove that right at all. On probation, the employer still has to follow a fair process, warn you about performance concerns, give you a chance to improve, and act as a fair and reasonable employer would. If they dismiss you unfairly on probation, you can still raise a personal grievance.
| Feature | 90-day trial period | Probationary period |
|---|---|---|
| Removes unjustified-dismissal rights | Yes, for up to 90 days | No |
| Fair process required to dismiss | No | Yes |
| Must be signed before you start | Yes | No |
| Maximum length | 90 calendar days | Any length agreed |
If your agreement says trial period, you are giving up your unjustified-dismissal rights for 90 days. If it says probationary period, you keep them. Read the exact words. If you are not sure which it is, ask the employer to confirm it in writing before you sign.
The money risks of starting on a trial
The real danger of a 90-day trial is not the legal fine print, it is the financial position you put yourself in when you leave one job for another. New Zealand does not have a strong redundancy or unemployment safety net, so a job that ends at day 80 can leave you with very little to fall back on. Weigh these risks before you resign from anything secure.
- You give up a secure income. If you leave a permanent job to take a role on a trial, you swap certainty for a three-month test. If the new job does not work out, you cannot simply return to the old one.
- There is no guaranteed redundancy pay. New Zealand law does not require any redundancy compensation. You only get redundancy pay if your employment agreement specifically provides for it, and a brand-new job on a trial almost never will.
- Notice is only what the agreement says. Your only guaranteed cushion is the notice period written into the agreement, which for a new role is often just one or two weeks.
- The safety net is thin. If the trial ends and you have no income, your main option is Jobseeker Support from Work and Income. It is income-tested, a stand-down period can apply before payments start, and the weekly rate is far below most wages. It is a floor, not a replacement for your salary.
Confirm the agreement really is a trial and not a probation, check that you are signing before your start date, read the notice period, look for any redundancy clause, and build an emergency fund that could carry you for a few months. If you are leaving a secure job, ask yourself whether you could survive 90 days on savings if the new role ended on day 89.
🔢 Four New Zealand examples
These examples show how the rules and the money play out in real situations. The figures use round numbers for clarity, but the rules and rates are current for 2026.
Situation: Priya earns $68,000 a year in a permanent role. She resigns to take a new job that starts on a valid 90-day trial. At day 55 the new employer dismisses her with one week of notice, as the agreement allows. She did nothing wrong; the role simply was not a fit.
The financial picture:
Priya cannot return to her old job. Jobseeker Support is income-tested and a stand-down can delay it. The lesson is not that the trial was unlawful, it was lawful, but that leaving a secure income for a trial needs a savings buffer that can cover the gap.
Situation: Tane is offered a job with a 90-day trial clause. He starts on the Monday and signs the employment agreement on the Wednesday, two days after his first shift. At week six he is dismissed with no reason given.
Why the outcome changes:
Had Tane signed the agreement before his first shift, the trial would likely have been valid and this grievance would not be open to him. Keep a copy of the signed agreement and note the date. If you started before you signed, the trial almost certainly does not protect the employer.
Situation: Mele works six weeks on a valid 90-day trial, earning $1,000 gross a week. She is dismissed with the one week of notice her agreement requires. Her final pay looks light, so she checks the numbers.
What Mele is still owed:
Situation: Sam is on a valid 90-day trial. After he tells his manager he has a health condition that will need occasional medical appointments, he is dismissed the next week. The employer says only that it is a trial dismissal.
Which door stays open:
Discrimination, harassment and unpaid-wage claims all survive a valid trial. If you think the real reason for a dismissal is unlawful, keep every email, text and note. The trial removes the general unjustified-dismissal right, not your protection from unlawful treatment.
Related guides and tools
- Recovering unpaid wages guide, for chasing wages or holiday pay left out of your final pay.
- Redundancy rights and money guide, for how New Zealand redundancy actually works.
- Negotiating your salary guide, for getting the offer right before you sign.
- PAYE tax system guide, for understanding the pay behind the job.
- Tools: Notice period calculator, holiday pay calculator, and redundancy versus new job calculator.
Verified against Employment New Zealand (employment.govt.nz) trial periods guidance and its notice, dismissal and holiday pay pages, and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (mbie.govt.nz) announcement extending 90-day trial periods to all employers from 23 December 2023. Holiday pay of 8% of gross earnings on ending employment is set by the Holidays Act 2003. Figures current for 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice.
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Situations like yours. The 4 situations worked through above sit alongside 24 more about changing or losing a job, each with the sums shown.