Constructive Dismissal

This arises when an employer unilaterally makes a significant alteration in the contract of employment which negatively affects the employee. This most often arises as a result of changes which result in a significant loss of income. It might also include a demotion which amounts to a loss of prestige in the work place. Constructive dismissal is hard to prove by an employee and the employee also faces the rather difficult argument that he or she ought to have remained in the workplace and earned what was being offered as a way to mitigate the damages as discussed above. Of course an employee would not be forced by the courts to return to a workplace or consider returning to a workplace in which they had been seriously abused. It should be remembered however that the Supreme Court of Canada has applied this principal which can turn out to be financially devastating for employees who refuse to remain on the job.