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ARTICLE · 13 MAY 2025

Does An Employee Have To Stay? Constructive Dismissal And The Duty To Mitigate

When an employee asserts that they have been constructively dismissed, it is not always clear what the next steps should be for either the employee or the employer.

CanadaEmployment and HR

When an employee asserts that they have been constructively dismissed, it is not always clear what the next steps should be for either the employee or the employer.

Specifically, there can be some confusion about when an employee must mitigate their loss of employment income by returning to the same position or with the same employer, especially if events have occurred that seem to make returning unreasonable.

In this article, we review what constructive dismissal is, an employee's duty to mitigate their losses, and whether that duty includes returning to the same position that they previously held, or the same employer.

Overall, an employee may be required to return to the same position with the same employer depending on the circumstances, if it is deemed objectively reasonable. Courts have found that it is objectively unreasonable to expect an employee to return if the work environment is hostile and returning would cause embarrassment. If the salary is the

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