Sally has worked for Company ABC for the past 5 years. In 2019 her direct line manager moved to another country and subsequently resigned. By mid-2019, Company ABC recruited a new direct line manager for Sally who is well known in the sector and regarded as an expert in the field. The manager however has been very mean to Sally. In meetings he would made rude comments about Sally and her work ethic. Sally lodged a grievance and it was addressed. Not soon thereafter, the line manager’s comments became worse and vulgar in nature. Sally found the workplace to be intolerable, she was extremely unhappy and thought she would just quit. However, she needed the money as she had a family to support. She lodged another grievance but this time nothing happened to the line manager. The line managers behavior worsened and once threw a book at her, he humiliated her by emailing her performance management records to the entire office. Sally could not handle this anymore and resigned with immediate effect.

Question

What best describes the case scenario above?

a.
Resignation to avoid dismissal

b.
Suspension without dismissal

c.
Dismissal

d.
Constructive dismissal

Answer 1

The best description of the case scenario above is:

d. Constructive dismissal

Constructive dismissal occurs when an employee resigns due to an employer's behavior that creates a hostile or intolerable work environment, effectively forcing the employee to leave. In this case, Sally experienced ongoing harassment and unacceptable treatment from her line manager, which led her to resign.