Don’t worry about the difference between claims of ‘unfair’ and ‘constructive’ dismissal. That’s our job. But if you would like to know….
‘unfair dismissal’ is when an employee has been dismissed without reasonable justification i.e. unfairly. Generally, an employee needs two years’ continuous service to qualify for the right not to be unfairly dismissed, though there are exceptions.
a ‘constructive dismissal’ is where an employee resigns in response to the employer’s serious breach of contract (very often amounting to a breach of trust and confidence). The employer doesn’t bring the contract to an end by dismissal but the employee’s resignation is interpreted or construed as being equivalent to dismissal.
As you would expect, a constructive dismissal is nearly always going to be unfair. But if you don’t have two years’ service, or the reason for dismissal isn’t one of the exceptions where you don’t need qualifying length of service, then you won’t have the right to seek compensation for that unfairness.
Appreciating whether the reason for dismissal could be categorised within one of the exceptions can be a challenge and surprising. Fortunately for you and many of our clients, we are expert at discovering if that is possible. As a result, we have obtained very significant sums of compensation in cases where others had advised the claim was next to hopeless.
Whichever is the situation facing you, we have the expertise and experience to achieve the best outcome for you. Give us a call.