What do you think?

1. Mr X was employed as Executive, Security and Risk Management (“Executive”) at ABC Company ("ABC") on a probationary basis for 6 months.

2. When his probationary period expired, he was asked to continue his work for about two weeks pending evaluation of his performance.

3. Upon evaluation, ABC after advised by HR manager who was Mr X's supervisor found that Mr X performance was not good & not up to the standard expected by ABC. ABC then informed Mr X that he will no be confirmed and directed him to pack and go.

4. In accordance to the terms in the Letter of Offer, ABC had paid the Claimant two weeks’ salary in lieu and at that point of time, Mr X accepted without any protest at all.

5. Assuming that you are Mr X, will you file a claim against ABC for wrongfull dismissal? Can you claim that you were no longer a probationer but a confirmed employee because of ABC's failure to terminate you within 6 months of probationary period?

6. As HR Manager, did you make a right decision by asking Mr X to stay pending evaluation of his performance during probationary period? Can you justify the termination by arguing that you as HR Manager is the best person to judge Mr X performance and not someone else because you were Mr X's supervisor!

(For info, the above case is a true story. I acted for ABC and Mr X was represented by well known Big B. I was thrown by Big B with so many issues purportedly to confuse me. Having Big B as my opponent was not a day that I will remember. But I did not give up. I made up my mind and use this simple approach. I threw him back with my own issues. After much deliberation, Mr Chairman who was trying the case decided in my favor. I learned many things from this case, which I now adopt in my daily life, i.e. facts may be straightforward, but we can still find many ways to make it complicated)