Constructive Discharge Defined
You've worked for your employer for years as a loyal, trustworthy employee. You think that you have a great working relationship and you like working there. But, suddenly, your employer changes an aspect of your working conditions that makes it virtually impossible for you to stay. You have no choice but to quit, because there is no other choice for a reasonable employee such as yourself. To add insult to injury, the state employment office refuses to grant you unemployment benefits, because you quit.
But did you really quit? Maybe not. Instead, you might have effectively suffered constructive discharge, a form of wrongful termination. It's also called constructive wrongful discharge.
Constructive discharge is a legal concept that is an exception to the Employment at Will Doctrine. According to Black's Law Dictionary, it means "A termination of employment brought about by making the employee's working conditions so intolerable that the employee feels compelled to leave."
In other words, even though you quit, your employer might have, in effect, wrongfully terminated you according to the legal concept of constructive discharge.
