So a "problem employee" has resigned before you had to terminate him. Your problems are over, right? No employee who has resigned can bring a claim against her employer, can she?
Not so fast. The law recognizes a doctrine of "constructive discharge," which means that under certain circumstances, an employee may claim that his separation from employment amounted to a firing even if he resigned. It is a good idea for employers to be familiar with the standards for constructive discharge, so that they can avoid "firing" an employee when they do not wish to do so.
The Colorado courts recognized the doctrine of constructive discharge, which had previously been applied in federal courts, in 1971 in the case of Colorado Civil Rights Commission v. State. There, the Colorado Court of Appeals held that the plaintiff, a teacher, had a claim for discharge, even though she resigned. The court noted that the employer's policy had been to presume that teachers would be rehired each year unless
