What is constructive dismissal?

This is a fascinating area of employment law and very difficult to prove.

Constructive dismissal is when you have been forced to resign following specific actions by your employer that has caused either a significant breach of your employment contract or which have made your position untenable.

These cases are extremely hard to win. 

To amount to constructive dismissal, the breach (which could stem from a single event or an accumulation of them) must be a serious and repudiatory one. That is, it must be a fundamental breach of contract (e.g. a breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence). 

To rely on the breach, the employee needs to resign fairly soon after it occurred otherwise they may be construed to have waived it.

Claims for constructive dismissal must be lodged in the Tribunal within three months less one day of the last day of employment.

Tribunals can adjust awards up or down by 25% if they think that either the employer or employee unreasonably failed to follow the Acas code of practice (www.acas.org.uk).