Policy Number:         721 

Date Effective:          10/03/1980

Date Reviewed:        12/19/2023                             

Date Revised:           04/15/2002

References:              Collective Bargaining Agreements; HRS Procedures

POLICY

Unless otherwise specified in collective bargaining agreements, permanent staff are subject to a six-month probationary period.  During that period, employees may be terminated for any reason without a showing of cause and without recourse to any grievance procedure.

PROCEDURE

Time on leave without pay is not credited toward completion of a probationary period, as it is not time spent performing job duties and therefore cannot be considered to evaluate an employee’s performance.  Thus, if an employee has taken leave during the first six months of employment, their probationary ending date is adjusted to compensate for the leave taken.

Employees serve only one probationary period upon initial hire.  Employees who have completed the probationary period and transfer to another University department do not complete a new probationary period.  If an employee transfers to another department during the probationary period, their probation will continue until the period is completed.  Employees transferring from a state agency or another unit of the Montana University System to the University shall complete a new six-month probationary period with the University of Montana.

Upon successful completion of the probationary period, a regular employee may be involuntarily terminated from employment only for reasons of just cause or layoff.