Where an employee resigns because of the employer’s fundamental or repudiatory breach of the employment contract they are said to have been constructively dismissed. It is treated as a form of unfair dismissal like actual dismissal. It’s a form of unfair dismissal because in situations where someone was not sacked but instead, for example, was bullied to the point where they couldn’t stand working for their employer any longer it made sense to make the employer liable. If constructive dismissal was not recognised as a form of unfair dismissal we would have a situation where by not dismissing the employee the employer would avoid liability while making the employee’s working conditions intolerable. It follows that the term “constructive unfair dismissal” is often used.
