Constructive Dismissal

Constructive dismissal occurs when an employee resigns from his/her employment as a result of a fundamental breach of their employment contract by their employer. For example; lack of support from the employer during difficult work situations, excessive disciplining of employees, changing an employee's job content or terms, harassment or if your employer refuses to pay a bonus due to you.

If such a breach of contract occurs then as the employee, you must resign without unreasonable delay. If you wait too long to submit a claim Tribunal could see this as accepting the breach therefore leading the claim to be unsuccessful.

In order to succeed in a claim for constructive dismissal, you, as the employee must prove that the breach of contract was so severe that you could not be expected to continue to work there any longer.

It is strongly advisable before claiming constructive dismissal, that you first submit a grievance to your employer about the breach(es) and wait for a response. If you do not do this it could be deemed a breach of the ACAS code of practice and your compensation if successful could be reduced by up to 25%. Equally if the Employer does not deal with your grievance properly or at all they could be in breach of the ACAS Code and your compensation could increase by up to 25%.

Overall the following steps should be remembered when considering constructive dismissal -

• Has your employer performed a clear fundamental breach of contract?
• Have you as the employee raised a grievance and or resigned in consequence of that breach and not another reason?
• Have you delayed too long before resigning?

Making a decision to leave your current job is a hard one in any situationand it's made even harder when considering a claim for constructive dismissal, so the decision to resign shouldn't be taken lightly. If you are therefore thinking of resigning due to your employer's behavior you should contact us for advice before taking such action.