Constructive dismissal occurs if you are forced to resign because your employer has breached employment law or contravened important terms of your employment contract. You, the employee may find it impossible to stay in your position. Before making such an important decision, employees should seek legal advice. Our experienced team offers expert advice on what to do if you find your position at work untenable, what to do in this situation and how to be compensated as a result. Call us now to discuss.

A constructive dismissal is not a ‘dismissal’ in the conventional sense of the word, since a constructive dismissal occurs when the employee resigns from their employment in response to a breach of an important term of their employment contract by their employer (i.e. a ‘repudiatory breach’). The breach by the employer and/or the employer’s conduct must be so severe that the employee has no choice but to resign.

There are also various implied terms in an employment contract, such as the implied term of mutual trust and confidence. If an employer breaches this term (for example by subjecting an employee to bullying and/or harassment), then an employee can treat this as a breach of an important term of their employment contract and resign in response to it.

Employees should take legal advice before deciding to resign since an employee’s decision to resign and consequently lose all their employment rights should never be taken lightly. If you feel that your employer’s conduct was a serious a breach of your employment contract you should contact our specialist employment department as soon as possible and we will advise you on what to do next.

It is important to note that if you believe that your employer has breached any express or implied term of your employment contract but wait too long before resigning then you lose your right to claim constructive dismissal. Consequently it is best to contact us as soon as possible so that we can advise you as to the options available, so that you can avoid taking any rash decision to resign and also avoid waiting too long to resign and thus losing your ability to claim.