Olivia is the Head of Legal at Lawpath, where she helps Australian businesses navigate complex legal challenges with practical, commercially minded advice. She specialises in employment matters, contract drafting, pre-litigation strategy, dispute resolution, commercial law and startup compliance, and has supported clients across technology, healthcare, professional services and retail. Olivia is passionate about making legal services accessible, personable and effective for every client.
Resignation during a probation period is allowed in Australia, and you can hand it in on any working day of your probation. Most people owe one week’s notice, but that number comes from your employment contract or modern award. Probation itself doesn’t set it, and neither does the Fair Work Act.
Here’s the awkward bit. You took the job, maybe even celebrated it, and a few weeks in it’s clearly not working. Most people in this spot assume probation means they can walk out the same afternoon. Sometimes that’s true. Other times it costs you a week’s pay you never needed to lose.
- You can resign at any time during probation. Your employer can’t refuse a resignation, though they can ask you to work out your notice.
- Most people on probation owe one week’s notice. That figure comes from your contract or award, and most of them land on one week for anyone with under a year of service.
- The Fair Work Act doesn’t set your notice when you quit. Its minimum notice table covers employers ending employment, so your own documents decide what you owe.
- Leaving without notice has a price cap under most awards. Your employer can deduct up to one week’s award wages, and never your accrued annual leave.
- Final pay is due within 7 days under most awards. It includes your unused annual leave, and since Payday Super started, the super on your wages goes out with it.
Can you resign during your probation period?
Yes. You can resign during your probation period on any day, for any reason, and you don’t owe anyone an explanation.
Probation is a contract term, not a legal status. Full-time and part-time employees are permanent from their first day. Probation just gives both sides a trial window and, in most contracts, a shorter notice period while it runs.
A wrong assumption we hear a lot: passing probation is what makes you “permanent”. It isn’t. Probation also isn’t the unfair dismissal minimum employment period under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), which is 6 months for most employers and 12 months for small businesses with fewer than 15 employees. The two often line up, so people blur them. They’re separate.
One thing your employer can’t do is refuse to accept your resignation. They can acknowledge it, ask you to reconsider, or ask you to work your notice. That’s the full list.
How much notice do you need to give when resigning during probation?
For most people, one week. But that number has to come from somewhere, and where it comes from decides what happens if you get it wrong.
Plenty of articles (including the old version of this one) say the Fair Work Act sets a one-week minimum for employees who resign. It doesn’t. The National Employment Standards notice table in section 117 tells employers how much notice they must give. Your obligation as the person leaving comes from three places, checked in this order.
1. Your employment contract
Open your contract and search for “probation” and “notice”. Most contracts set a probation notice period of one week from either side, then step up to two or four weeks once probation ends.
Read the employee clause on its own. Some contracts are deliberately lopsided: one week from the employer during probation, four weeks from you. If yours says that, four weeks is what you signed up for.
2. Your modern award or enterprise agreement
Got an award covering your job? Find its “termination of employment” clause. Most modern awards require employees to give the same notice the NES table sets for employers, which means one week if you’ve been there a year or less. A few set a flat period instead.
Where it gets tricky is when the award doesn’t mention probation at all and the contract does. In consultations, our lawyers check how the two clauses fit together before anyone relies on a number. Don’t assume the shorter one wins just because it suits you.
3. No award and no notice clause
This one surprises people. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s guidance on resignation notice says an employee who isn’t covered by an award or agreement doesn’t have to give notice before resigning. That covers a lot of award-free professionals and managers.
Check twice before you rely on it. Almost every written contract has a notice clause somewhere. And a verbal offer you accepted over the phone is still a contract, with whatever terms you agreed to.
| Your situation | Notice you’ll probably owe | Where to check |
|---|---|---|
| Contract has a probation notice clause | Whatever the employee clause says (commonly 1 week) | Your contract |
| Covered by an award, under 1 year of service, contract silent | 1 week under most awards | The award’s termination clause |
| Award-free, no notice clause anywhere | None required, per the Fair Work Ombudsman | Contract, offer letter, offer emails |
| Covered by an enterprise agreement | Whatever the agreement says | The agreement’s termination clause |
| Casual employee | None in most cases | Contract and award |
| Fixed-term contract | Depends on the early termination clause | Your contract |
Example 1: Priya started a full-time admin role 8 weeks ago with a 6-month probation. Her contract says one week’s notice from either side during probation, and her award lands on one week too. She resigns on a Monday and names the following Monday as her last day. Done.
Example 2: Sam is an award-free senior analyst. His contract requires four weeks’ notice from the employee “at any time” and has no separate probation notice. Probation doesn’t shorten anything for him. He owes four weeks unless his employer agrees to less.
Do you need to give notice on probation if you’re casual or fixed-term?
As a casual employee, you don’t owe notice in most cases, and your employer doesn’t owe you any either. Probation clauses are rare in casual contracts for the same reason. A handful of awards and contracts do include casual notice terms, so spend 30 seconds checking.
Fixed-term is the trap. If your contract runs to a set end date and has no early termination clause, leaving early can be a breach of contract. Look for an early exit clause first. No clause? Negotiate an agreed finish date and get it in writing.
Can you resign immediately during your probation period?
You can. Whether it costs you depends on your award and contract.
Skip notice your award requires, and most awards let your employer deduct up to one week’s wages from your final pay. That deduction can only come out of wages owed under the award. Your accrued annual leave is off limits, and so is anything paid above the award.
Award-free, with a notice clause in your contract? Then walking out is a breach of contract. In theory, your employer could claim the cost of covering your role. In practice, a claim over a week or two of notice is rare because the legal bill dwarfs the loss. Senior people on long notice periods carry more risk.
The better move nearly every time? Ask. Tell your manager you’d like to finish early and ask them to waive the rest of your notice. During probation, employers say yes more often than you’d think, because they’re already planning the replacement. Get the agreement in writing. An email reply counts.
If you need to leave on the spot because you feel unsafe at work, that’s a different situation. Talk to an employment lawyer before you go, so leaving doesn’t cost you rights you’d otherwise keep. Our guide to resigning without notice covers the employer’s side of the same question.
What if your employer doesn’t want you to work out your notice?
They can pay you instead. That’s payment in lieu of notice: you get the wages for the notice period, and your employment ends straight away.
What they can’t do is send you home and stop paying. If your employer ends things before your resignation date without paying out the rest of the notice, it starts to look like a dismissal rather than a resignation. That changes the picture for both of you.
Gardening leave is the third option. You stay employed and paid, but you don’t come in. Your confidentiality and other obligations keep running until the final day.
What should be in your final pay after resigning during probation?
Probation doesn’t shrink your entitlements. Full-time and part-time employees build up annual leave from day one, and your final pay should include:
- wages for every hour up to your last day, including penalty rates and allowances
- unused annual leave, plus leave loading if your award pays it on termination
- any notice period you worked or were paid in lieu of
- commission or bonuses you’ve already earned, depending on how your contract and plan are worded
Personal/carer’s leave isn’t paid out. Under most awards, the Fair Work Ombudsman’s final pay rules require payment within 7 days of your employment ending.
Super has changed too. Payday Super started on 1 July 2026, so employers now pay super for each payday, and it has to reach your fund within 7 business days. No more waiting until the end of the quarter for the super on your final wages.
Two clauses catch people out here. Commission plans that say nothing about leaving mid-quarter, and training clauses that let an employer recover course costs if you resign within 12 months. Both come up in Lawpath consultations about probation exits. Read them before you resign, not after.
How to resign during your probation period: a 6-step checklist
- Find your notice number. Contract first, then award. Write down the clause number so you can quote it.
- Check the money clauses. Look at commission, bonuses and training repayment terms before anything else happens.
- Tell your manager first. In person or on a call. It’s kinder, and it stops the news arriving by rumour.
- Put it in writing the same day. Email works. Name your last day as an actual date, not “one week from today”.
- Plan a short handover. A one-page list of open tasks, contacts and logins buys a lot of goodwill for very little effort.
- Return property and leave the files alone. Hand back devices and keys. Don’t forward work documents to your personal email, even ones you wrote.
Resignation letter during probation period: sample wording
Short beats clever. Something like this is enough:
Dear [Manager’s name],
Please accept this letter as formal notice of my resignation from my position as [job title]. In line with [clause X of my employment contract / my award], I am giving [one week’s] notice. My last day of work will be [day, date].
Thank you for the opportunity. I’m happy to help with a handover before I finish.
Kind regards,
[Your name]
Name the clause. When a notice dispute does flare up, it almost always starts with a letter that said “effective immediately” or “a week from now” and nobody agreed what that meant.
Keep the reasons out of it. Your letter isn’t the place to explain why the job didn’t work, and anything you write there can be quoted back later. If you want help with tone, our guide on how to write a resignation letter walks through it.
Resigning during probation on a sponsored work visa
If you hold an employer-sponsored visa, such as the Skills in Demand (subclass 482) or subclass 494, your resignation starts a clock. Your employer must tell the Department of Home Affairs within 28 days of your employment ending.
From the day your job ends, you have up to 180 consecutive days (and 365 days in total across the life of the visa) to find a new sponsor, move to a different visa or leave Australia. Days used in an earlier gap come off that total. Line up your next sponsor before you resign if you can, and get migration advice first.
What we see in Lawpath consultations
Lawpath lawyers speak with employers about probation exits all the time. A few patterns keep showing up, and every one of them is useful if you’re the one leaving.
- Texts count. We regularly see employers treat a casual text (“I’ve got something else lined up, I’ll drop the uniform back”) as a resignation and confirm it by formal email. Don’t send anything that sounds like quitting unless you mean it.
- Lopsided notice clauses are common. Employers updating their contracts are increasingly setting one week from the employer during probation and a longer period from the employee. (Employers can set this up in a Lawpath employment agreement in minutes.) Check your own clause instead of assuming it’s symmetrical.
- Downloads get noticed. A frequent employer worry during a resignation is documents being downloaded or forwarded in the final week. Confidentiality obligations survive a probation exit, and a spike in downloads is exactly what prompts a cease and desist letter.
- Restraints still apply. Non-solicitation and non-disparagement clauses keep running after you leave, even six weeks in. Ex-employees who badmouth a former employer to its staff have found that out the hard way.
- Neutral references are normal. Employers ending a short employment relationship are commonly advised to confirm dates of employment and nothing else. A dates-only reference is a risk-management habit, not a verdict on you.
Will resigning during probation hurt your career?
Rarely. A short stint with a clean exit reads as a decision, not a disaster. What sticks is a messy one: notice nobody worked out, a laptop that never came back, an angry farewell email to the whole team.
Leave well and the job becomes a line on your CV you can explain in one sentence. “It wasn’t the right fit, so I left during probation and found a role that is.” Interviewers hear worse every week.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need to give notice on probation?
In most cases, yes. If your contract or award sets a notice period, it applies during probation, and for most people that’s one week. If you’re award-free and your contract has no notice clause, the Fair Work Ombudsman says you don’t have to give notice.
How much notice do you give for a resignation during probation period?
One week is the most common answer, because most probation clauses and most awards land there for people with under a year of service. Your contract can require more, so read the employee notice clause on its own.
Can I resign during probation by email or text?
Email is fine and gives you a dated record. A text can also count as a resignation, which is why employers confirm texted resignations by email. If you resign by text, follow up with an email that states your last day.
Can my employer refuse my resignation during probation?
No. An employer can’t accept or reject a resignation. They can ask you to reconsider, ask you to work your notice, or pay you in lieu and let you finish early.
Can my employer keep my pay if I don’t give enough notice?
Only if your award or agreement allows it, and most cap the deduction at one week’s wages owed under the award. Your accrued annual leave and over-award payments can’t be touched.
Do I get my annual leave paid out if I resign during probation?
Yes. Full-time and part-time employees accrue annual leave from day one, and any unused balance goes into your final pay. Personal/carer’s leave isn’t paid out.
Can I resign immediately during my probation period?
Yes, but if you owe notice, your employer may be able to deduct up to a week’s award wages, or claim for breach of contract if you’re award-free. The cleanest route is asking your employer to waive the notice in writing.
Does probation notice apply to casual employees?
Rarely. Casual employees don’t owe notice in most cases, and probation clauses are uncommon in casual contracts. Check your contract and award anyway, because a few include casual notice terms.
You’re not the first person to realise a job isn’t right a few weeks in, and you won’t be the last. A resignation during probation period is normal, legal and simple once you know your notice number. Find it, put it in writing, and leave on good terms.
Ready to make it official? Create your Letter of Resignation with Lawpath and have it sent today.
