A claim for constructive dismissal can be brought in various ways. There are three main ways that it could be brought at the Employment Tribunal. Firstly, what is a claim for constructive dismissal? It is a repudiatory breach by an employer which results in an employee resigning in consequence. A repudiatory breach is a breach of an express or implied term of the contract of employment that goes to the root of the contract. An example of an implied term is the implied term of mutual trust and confidence. The 3 most common ways that such claims are brought at the Employment Tribunal are as follows:
- Where the employee has less than two years of service and the employee resigns with immediate effect, their remedy is for the period of their notice;
- Where the employee has two years or more of service, the claim is brought as a constructive and unfair dismissal claim and, thus the remedies of unfair dismissal may also be claimed which include loss of earnings and a basic award; and
- As a constructive discriminatory claim where the employee has less than or more than two years service. This, in layman’s terms, is where the reason for the resignation was due to an act of discrimination on the part of the employer. The remedy for this is includes financial loss arising from the discrimination (including loss of earnings) and a sum representing injury to feelings.
