The easiest way to think about constructive discharge is that it’s when an employee quits a job that has become unbearable to work at. Now, that may sound like a dream come true, and almost everyone has held a job at one time or another where they thought their job was pretty terrible. But workplace discharge is much more serious and nuanced than having a strong opinion that your boss is inept and that you thus find it unbearable to work for them. While that is an unfortunate situation, it doesn’t require an attorney.
But if you’re contemplating leaving a job with unbearable conditions, or have just left one, you might be panicking about money and finding a new job. You might be wondering if an attorney can help. Read on to learn more about how the law can protect your rights, and how an employment attorney can help you.
Definition of Constructive Discharge
In order for you to file a constructive discharge suit, your boss must have taken an adverse action against you or have refused to resolve an issue, such as harassment or intolerable working conditions, that caused you to resign from your position.
In fact, constructive discharge is actually very difficult to prove. But there are two fundamental facts that you must prove:
- That the working conditions were intolerable that any reasonable person would be forced to resign from the position, and
- That your employer knew about the issues and did not provide adequate correctives
Intolerable Working Conditions
The working conditions must be extremely unbearable. People who file these types of lawsuits may have endured the following in the workplace:
- Hostility from other employees
- Hostility from supervisors
- Harassment, including sexual harassment
- Discrimination, or retaliation for filing a discrimination claim
- Unsafe working conditions
The ways in which these are played out vary because people and companies are different. But one common example is forcing someone to work at another location that is further from them. An example of discrimination is finding out that you’re being paid less than other employees because of your religious beliefs.
But you can also file a report even if you weren’t the person being harassed. Intolerable working conditions affect everyone, so if you witness someone getting demoted or facing hostility from coworkers because of their race, for example, and it forces you to resign from your job, then you should call an employment attorney.
Evidence Your Constructive Discharge Case
You will want to keep a journal of the dates, times, and people involved in incidents that support your claim of intolerable conditions in your workplace. You must inform your employer in writing of the intolerable workplace conditions. This can be something as simple as an email to a supervisor, your Human Resources department, or some other higher authority. If you have pictures of your workplace or video evidence, then you will want to speak to a lawyer immediately.
Hiring An Employment Attorney
If you win your case, then you can claim back pay for the time between the day you quit your job until the day you find a new one. The back pay will be your monthly salary, or whatever calculable wages you would have made in that time period had the working conditions not forced you to resign. You want an experienced and dedicated employment attorney working hard for you. You can find more information here about employment attorneys.
