Most employers are aware that there are legal impediments to
unilaterally changing the terms and conditions of an employee's
employment, even if there is a legitimate business rationale for
that change. The major legal impediment is constructive
dismissal.
An employer who, for example, unilaterally and materially cuts
an employee's salary will have constructively dismissed that
employee. How then to address the fiscal and operational pressures
placed on the business by a global economy in the face of potential
liability for constructive dismissal?
In this paper, Davis LLP's Richard Press provides a basic
review of the law of constructive dismissal and discusses
strategies to address potential liability. This also includes an
analysis of the contractual principles that underscore a
repudiation of the employment agreement, and considers possible
responses to repudiation by the employer of the employment
agreement, including acceptance of the changed terms.
