Constructive Dismissal

What is constructive dismissal?

Constructive dismissal is basically the situation where an employer has committed a serious breach of contract entitling the employee to resign in response to the employer's conduct, by treating himself as having been dismissed by the employer.¹ In such cases, the existing legal framework enables the treatment of the employee's resignation as a form of unfair dismissal since the actions and/or conduct of the employer (constructive part) leads to the resignation of the employee (dismissal part).²

In the British case Western Excavating (ECC) Ltd v Sharp³, it was stated that "If the employer is guilty of conduct which is a significant breach going to the root of the contract of employment, or which shows that the employer no longer intends to be bound by one or more of the essential terms of the contract, then the employee is entitled to treat himself as discharged from any further performance". If he does so and proceed with the