I have been in my job for 15 years, and conditions have always been challenging. Lately, however, the nature of the challenges has ramped up, and I have been told by my own HR Manager that what I am experiencing amounts to a straightforward case of constructive dismissal.

The thing is, I can’t understand how my situation would be different to that of any unhappy employee, and although I have looked up the definition of constructive dismissal, I have to be sure that I am jeopardising myself by making a move without any possibility of success.

So how is constructive dismissal determined exactly? And how does one go about claiming against one’s employer? Do you just quit and hope that the organisation you are quitting agrees with you? What is the process?

If you have some kind of expertise to share but need more detail from me, please get in touch. I’ll be happy to provide it.

Thanks for any thoughts any of you may be able to offer.

NB. If you know me in real life (off the forum), please DO NOT breathe a word of this to anyone!

I think the phrase that you need is ‘ Compromise Agreement’ . They dont want to go to court , neither do you so you agree an amount, sign a waiver and leave

Why would ‘your’ HR manager tell you that your situation is straightforward constructive dismissal?
HR’s principal purpose is to ensure the company does not breach legislation.
In these ‘more enlightened’ times they should also provide mental health support and promote anti-bullying.
The absence of detail in your post makes it difficult to understand the circumstances and, therefore, make helpful suggestions.

Its almost impossible to prove and in your case from the limited amount of info we have its nowhere near.

constructive dismissal is when you have no option but to resign. things like unwanted sexual advances from a boss, blatant illegality or breachs of H&S that are seriously endangering you. that sort of thing.

Myself and my other half do have some experience of this sort of thing if you want to PM me but it really is almost impossible to show

I’ve got some experience with this. Can you DM me your email address, fella? Rather than go into chapter and verse on here

I was lucky enough to be a union member with a very good union rep who made mincemeat of the totally concocted ‘case’ against me, which was clearly constructive dismissal as they were just trying to get rid of me on the cheap, and my boss was an utter ****!

been there, ACAS advised me on the legalities but can’t advise on strength or otherwise of a case, for that you need an employment law solicitor.

As said above, it’s easy to define and understand but nigh on impossible to prove.Your best bet is to push for a compromise agreement and see if you can mutually with the company find a means by which you can part company.

Like others as well, not sure why HR would be advising you in that way, but if they are daft enough to actually say that then I’d see whether they’ll be daft enoughg to ‘confirm the discussion’ you previously had by email.

Heed Frankconway’s words up there – the idea that an HR person is giving you helpful advice on where the company is going wrong re your employment is a contradiction in terms. That cannot be right. Either your HR person has gone completely rogue (in which case prob not the best person to be taking advice from) or something is not on the level with that interaction.

Or the HR person is just incompetent.

The process would be you resign and then take them to tribunal claiming constructive dismissal. then you lose the tribunal 😉

Union advice?

They may be setting you up for a compromise agreement, which was what effectively happened to me. HR were useless / complicit. Unfortunately the employment protection we have is pretty useless in the real world. Might be worth talking to a lawyer to use as leverage towards a compromise agreement, but you can only go for constructive dismissal once you’ve left at which point a CA is off the table. Look to get out now. My lawyer was good and got me a good pay out but was blunt about success in a tribunal and the limited pay out if I did win. I really feel for you, don’t let it get to the point your health suffers as well.

Check your home insurance to see if it provides legal cover for employment cases (many do).

JP

I’ve done the compromise agreement thing.

It wasn’t working for me or employer. I took it personally and fought tooth and nail. It had me ill and eventually led to a compromise agreement.

Best outcome really.

I look back at that time now and facepalm at how personally I took it. I could of saved myself so much stress if I hadn’t but I wasn’t well at the time.

Treat it like a game, work is just pretend anyway. It’s not your real life. That’s outside of work.

Either just swap jobs now and save the hassle or play the game, keep your cool and get a nice little payout and a reference as part of the compromise agreement.

Just to make it clear, compromise agreements are now called settlement agreements, and are not the same as constructive dismissal.

Settlement agreements are a quick way to get rid of you, in exchange for money.

I took a compromise agreement when an employer tried to get rid of me under the pretext of redundancy. Their problem was me and t’missus knew far more than their HR person and ran rings round them. Eventually I had seven months garden leave and £7000 payout. I was entitled to one months notice and £400

But a settlement agreement an never be in place of constructive dismissal. You have to resign to claim constructive dismissal, you have to still be in employment to get a settlement agreement

I was put through a redundancy process which was woefully managed. In the end I took a settlement agreement but wish I would have taken better legal advice and I should have just gone out and paid for that.

What I was told is that I could have taken Constructive Unfair Dismissal in which you need to resign stating that as the reason – then the legal process can start.

CD itself is when you are dismissed and then seek legal recourse. I think!

TL:DR get proper legal advice.

constructive dismissal is so often wrongly quoted on here. Badly managed redundancy is not constructive dismissal

constructive dismissal is when you resign because it is intolerable to go to work – and not from overwork but for something much more serious like sexual assault, serious bullying, significant danger – that sort of thing

Unfair dismissal is when you are fired illegally

Setllement agreements are basically ” we know we did wrong, here is a load of money to shut up and go away”

I won a constructive dismissal case against a previous employer. They didn’t pay me for four months, despite constant (proven by email) promises which turned out the be lies, so I resigned.

Did the employment tribunal myself, employer didn’t show, so I won by default and was awarded the owed salary plus interest. This was a large sum of money.

15 years later they still haven’t paid (to enforce an employment regional award, you need to sue, I couldn’t afford to do this), so it turned out to be a load of hassle for nothing, and I should have just gone and got another job as soon as there started being issues.

singletrackmind

Member
I think the phrase that you need is ‘ Compromise Agreement’ . They dont want to go to court , neither do you so you agree an amount, sign a waiver and leave

1st reply too!

As you probably know James. The company I previously worked 22yrs for decided they wanted to restructure, and part of that restructure was replace the present workforce with low paid agency workers. Legislation forbid this .. so they offered a very generous redundancy package and we all signed a waiver.
Over the years I had seen people dismissed against legislation, and HR in one instance stated that they were willing to pay the fine to get rid of someone they wanted out.

As others have said here; details are scarce – but maybe a browse through the Equality Act may identify some discrimination.

Good luck with it James.