Probation: maximum period the reduced minimum wage may apply
Routinely misreported as a limit on probation itself. It is not — probation can run longer; only the reduced minimum wage is capped at this. Conflating the two lets an employer justify a longer pay reduction than the law allows, and lets an employee think a six-month probation is automatically unlawful when it is not.
- Applies to
- Employees on probation under a contract of one year or more, outside simple labour occupations
- Review cadence
- Checked once a year
What we have recorded
- 2026-09-173 months
Within the first three months of probation, and only where the employment contract runs for a year or more, the employee is genuinely on probation, and the occupation is not one designated as simple labour, minimum wage may be applied at 90%. It caps the reduction, not the probation period, and it says nothing about reducing a contracted salary above the minimum wage.
Minimum Wage Act, Article 5
One reading so far. This becomes a history the first time the figure moves while we are watching — which is the part that cannot be reconstructed later.
Guides that depend on this figure
When this figure moves, every guide above needs the same edit. That is why it is tracked here rather than copied into each one.