Agreement and Extension Forms of the Probation Contract

Abstract

The present article aims to clarify some controversial aspects about the probation contract. Initially it makes an analysis of the constitutive and characterizing elements of the work contract according to the article 442 of the Labor Law Consolidation (Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho). Only after that, it analyses the probation contract itself. According to the work contract’s legal stipulations, this contract can be expressly or tacitly agreed. Despite this it’s questioned: could the probation contract also be stipulated in these two forms? Or would there be a special form because of the fact that it fits in a modality of exceptive contract? Considering all of these questioning, an integrated interpretation of the legal statements is done in order to understand the real intention of the legislator with regards to the agreement form because it says that “the individual work contract can be expressly or tacitly agreed”. After this analysis, a brief study about the extension of the probation contract and possible loss for the employee when there is an extension clause is done. Finally, the consequences of the probation contract’s termination are demonstrated. Keywords: probation contract; agreement forms; automatic extension clause; termination.