Frettens Banner Image

News & events

Q and A - Constructive Dismissal

Q: What is constructive dismissal?

A: An employee is constructively dismissed where they are entitled to terminate their employment contract due to the conduct of their employer. In order for an employee to claim constructive dismissal, four conditions must be met:

  1. There must be a breach of contract by the employer;
  2. That breach must be sufficiently serious to justify the employee resigning, or else it must be the last in a series of incidents which justify the employee leaving;
  3. The employee must leave in response to the breach and not for some other, unconnected, reason; and
  4. The employee must not delay too long in terminating the contract in response to the employer’s breach.



Q: What conduct of the employer will amount to a breach of contr?

A: This will depend on the particular circumstances of the case. If the employer commits a serious breach of the express terms of an employee’s contract, such as by unilaterally reducing the employee’s pay, this will entitle the employee to resign and claim constructive dismissal. Breach of implied contractual terms can also give rise to constructive dismissal claims. The most important implied term in this respect is the implied duty of mutual trust and confidence.


Q: What is the implied duty of trust and confidence?

A: This is a term that is implied into every contract of employment, namely that the employer will not, "without reasonable and proper cause, conduct itself in a manner calculated or likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of confidence and trust between employer and employee". Case law has confirmed that where the relationship of trust and confidence is, or is likely to be, seriously damaged or destroyed, the breach goes to the root of the employment contract and will always be serious enough to give rise to a constructive dismissal claim. To constitute a breach it is not necessary that the employer intended any breach of contract: the issue is whether the effect of the employer's conduct as a whole, judged reasonably and sensibly, is such that the employee cannot be expected to put up with it. The potential scope of this implied term is therefore extremely wide.


Q: Can an employee claim constructive dismissal as a result of a series of acts on the part of the employer?

A: An employee can bring a constructive dismissal claim either on the basis of one act or omission by the employer which amounts to a breach of contract, or on the basis of a course of conduct which continues over a period of time. Where the employee is complaining of a course of conduct, it is not necessary for any single act or omission to amount to a breach of contract by itself. The tribunal will consider the series of acts or omissions as a whole to determine whether together, they amount to a breach of contract on the part of the employer. The final act (or “last straw”) which prompts the employee to resign does not have to be unreasonable of itself but must contribute something, however small, to the employer’s breach in order for the employee to succeed in claiming constructive dismissal.


Q: What damages are available to an employee claiming constructive dismissal?

A: The compensation awarded for constructive dismissal is the same as that for unfair dismissal and an employee must have at least one year’s service in order to bring a claim. If the employee succeeds in his claim, he will be awarded a basic award (equivalent to a statutory redundancy payment) plus a compensatory award which is based upon his losses. The amount of the compensatory award will normally depend upon the employee’s salary and the length of time that he is out of work, subject to the employee’s duty to mitigate his loss by finding alternative employment. The statutory cap on the compensatory award is currently £60,600.


Read the other articles in this newsletter:

Third party pressure to dismiss
Smoking dismissal was fair
Manager selected for redundancy because of his age
Failure to adapt grievance procedure gives rise to constructive dismissal claim


Register to receive this newsletter each month by email.

home