If you think you are in a constructive dismissal situation, take legal advice on your options.
Constructive dismissal is where an employee feels forced to resign because of the actions of their employer.
If you are considering resigning because of something your employer has done or said, take legal advice first. If you have already resigned, it will be important to understand your rights and the legal options open to you now that your contract has been terminated.
Resigning should be considered a measure of last resort. While you may feel upset and aggrieved by your employer’s conduct, to be able to bring a constructive dismissal claim, you will usually need to show you have tried to resolve the issue before handing in your resignation by, for example, raising a grievance.
You will also, in most cases, have to have been continuously employed for two years in order to be eligible to make a constructive dismissal claim.
Constructive dismissal claims are a highly complex area of employment law. Employees are in most cases required to exhaust all other options before resigning and it is not always immediately clear whether a situation would qualify as constructive dismissal.
The criteria for bringing a constructive dismissal claim are strict. You will need to prove your employer seriously breached the terms of your contract and as a result of this, you had no choice but to resign. Your resignation cannot relate to another reason other than the breach of contract and any delay in resigning could be seen as accepting the breach.
It is always best to take advice before you resign.
We can help if you believe you are in a constructive dismissal situation. If you have already resigned, we can provide guidance on your next steps.
You have only three months less one day from the date you resigned to bring a claim for constructive dismissal, so you will need to act fast.
We can assess the merits of your case to enable you to make an informed decision about what to do next and advise on the likely defences your employer could potentially rely on in the circumstances.
Where you are eligible to bring a claim for constructive dismissal, we can help calculate how much compensation you could be awarded by a tribunal if your claim is successful. This will be helpful indication for pre-litigation settlement discussions.
With specialist expertise in negotiating settlement agreements, we can lead discussions with your employer and their representatives to agree terms favourable to you.
We can also advise on more complex issues relating to constructive dismissals such as discrimination, restrictive covenants, redundancy and working under protest provisions.
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