Don't Be A Bad Boss

Employees claiming constructive dismissal can be a costly business – particularly if their argument can be backed up.

- Ivan Israelstam

Constructive dismissal is a unique brand of dismissal under labor law. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is the only type of dismissal that is not implemented via the employer telling the employee to leave the company. Instead, with constructive dismissal, the employee resigns and claims that the resignation occurred as a result of the employer’s intolerable conduct.

In order to convince an arbitrator or judge that unfair constructive dismissal has in fact taken place, the employee must show that:

The employment circumstances are so intolerable that the employee could truly not continue to stay on.

The unbearable circumstances were the cause of the resignation of the employee.

There was no reasonable alternative at the time but for the employee to resign in order to escape the circumstances.

The unbearable situation must have been caused by the employer intentionally or unintentionally.

The employer must have been in control of the unbearable circumstances.

Just cause