Due to the at-will presumption in the majority of employer-employee relationships, most employees believe that they are not entitled to unemployment benefits and/or claim against their employer if they quit their job. Fortunately, you may be entitled to unemployment and pursue a lawsuit against your employer if it knowingly allowed the workplace to become so unbearable that you had no choice but to quit your position. The constructive discharge claim was created for just such a scenario as otherwise an employer could engage in a surreptitious campaign to induce you to quit your job as a means by which to avoid discrimination and retaliation claims. Although you technically quit your job, the involuntary resignation is treated as a firing because of the intolerable working conditions created by your employer. As further discussed below, prevailing on a wrongful discharge claim can be difficult so that you should contact an experienced employment law attorney before quitting your job and so as to preserve your valuable rights.
In order to prevail on a constructive discharge claim, your employer must have knowledge of the unbearable working condition. Therefore, an employee may not simply quit their job and thereafter assert a constructive discharge without first providing the employer with an opportunity to remedy the circumstances which render the work environment intolerable. Similarly, one cannot assert a constructive discharge claim because they don’t like their boss or because of an unfriendly work environment. A resignation may, however, be reasonably characterized as “involuntary” because you are the victim of severe sexual harassment or you are being retaliated against for refusing to participate in perceived illegal activity. In analyzing whether or not you were the victim of an involuntary resignation, the question involves whether or not a reasonable person would be compelled to quit their job because of the intolerable condition created or knowingly allowed by the employer. If the answer is in the affirmative, then the employer may have a viable claim for constructive discharge. Finally, a single incident, absent an act of physical violence, normally does not result in a finding of the type of intolerable work condition to force an involuntary resignation.
Lastly, it is important to note that the existence of illegal conduct at the workplace does not render it intolerable to a reasonable employee. For more information on constructive discharge The employee must establish by the preponderance of evidence that Per the key California Supreme Court case defining and analyzing constructive discharge, Turner v. Anheuser-Busch, an employee must prove, by the “more likely than not” (preponderance of the evidence) standard, that the employer either intentionally created or knowingly permitted working conditions that were so intolerable or aggravated at the time of the employee’s resignation that a reasonable person in employee’s position would be compelled to resign.
Employees are required to notify someone in a position of authority of their plight so that employers unaware of any wrongdoing may correct a potentially destructive situation that may be affecting workplace rights. Mere existence of illegal workplace conduct does not, without more, make employment conditions intolerable to a reasonable employee. For more information on constructive discharge or if you are a victim of any workplace violation, contact the Perrin Law Group today for a free consultation.
