At a crossroads?

If you're having a hard time at work, it is often the case that you feel you have no option but to leave your employment. However, this has huge personal consequences and, before resigning, you may need to discuss with a legal advisor as it may be that you may have a case against your employer known as constructive dismissal.

Constructive dismissal is the term used where an employee resigns in response to their employer's conduct in breach of an important term of their employment contract. This can be a breach of an express or implied term. An example of breach of an express term would be where the employer fundamentally changes an employee's duties without being contractually entitled to do so. Implied terms are incorporated into every employment contract by law, regardless of whether they have been expressly agreed between the parties. Breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence is often relied on by employees where the relationship between them and their employer has irrevocably broken down. Where an employer has breached an important express or implied term of the employment contract, an employee is entitled to treat him or herself as having been ‘dismissed’. The employer's conduct is often referred to as ‘a repudiatory breach’.