Before you resign, we strongly suggest you contact us if you are considering constructive unfair dismissal.

What is constructive dismissal?

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This page last updated 7.7.26.

I have been suspended from work should I resign? Please visit our webpage covering suspension from work.

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If you resign from your job due to your employer’s behaviour/conduct, it may amount to ‘constructive unfair dismissal’. In order to make a claim for ‘constructive dismissal’ in the Employment Tribunal, you would have to demonstrate the following:

• Your employer has committed a serious or [fundamental breach] of your contract of employment
• You felt forced to leave due to that breach
• You did not accept your employers breach, or a change in your employment conditions

In order to claim constructive dismissal, the employee has to have two years service with the employer here in the UK.

However, the employee does not need two years service to bring a claim in an Employment Tribunal for (i) discrimination (ii) harassment (iii) or any breach of the employer’s statutory “health and safety” obligations; (iv) detrimental treatment for blowing the whistle. Employees’ can bring a claim from day one.

What is unfair dismissal?

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If your employer ended your employment due to a reason, which you believe to be unfair, due to either the reason why you were dismissed, or the process your employer used, then you may have been unfairly dismissed. This may make it possible to lodge a claim with an Employment Tribunal. I strongly suggest you obtain legal advice from an employment solicitor.

Should you be considering resigning, or lodging a letter of grievance to enter the grievance procedure, it is likely due to something that your employer has done (act), or failed to do (omission). A [breach of the employment contract] may lead to an employee resigning and claiming “constructive dismissal” in an Employment Tribunal.

Lodging a letter of grievance and then resigning obviates the very purpose of the grievance procedure. It does not provide the employer an opportunity to put things right. You need to look at your situation from the Employment Tribunals prospective. The Judge will likely take a ‘dim view’ if you lodge a grievance letter and then just resign. The employer would draw inference against you, due to the fact you had failed to provide it an opportunity to remedy any [breach] it potentially may have made.

Unless you earn mega bucks, you are better off NOT to resign. It is far better to exhaust the grievance procedure whilst remaining on as an employee.

Employment Tribunals receive about five thousand claims a week, albeit this figure was down due the introduction of fees in June 2013, which has been overturned by the supreme court in 2017. Therefore, the Employment Tribunal does not want to be burdened with needless claims, which could otherwise have been resolved had the grievance procedure been allowed to run its course. So, unless you have exhausted every avenue [prior] to lodging your Employment Tribunal claim, it would be far better to be seen to be “acting reasonably,” and either (i) wait twenty-eight days from the date you lodge your letter of grievance, or (ii) allow the grievance procedure to exhaust itself.

This accomplishes two things:

1) It demonstrates to the Employment Tribunal that you, the employee, were diplomatic in your efforts to seek an amicable outcome. The Employment Tribunal will take the view that the employee provided the employer every opportunity to put things right. This firmly puts the onus on the employer, as to what steps it could and should have undertaken to remedy any alleged breach.

2) You want to allow the employer every opportunity to hang itself. The employer’s involvement in the grievance procedure and subsequent appeal process will likely result in it making multiple mistakes. From my own experiences, the employer’s “acts and omissions” or “omissions to act” will start a ‘domino effect’ whereas the more it attempts to conceal its torts, the deeper the pit it digs itself. This is exactly what you want the employer to do. You can always add appendages to your initial grievance letter due to your employer’s torts.

When Should I Resign

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When your employer has fundamentally breached the contract of employment. A fundamental breach would be one so serious that the employment contract has to be terminated. See: [fundamental breach].

Otherwise:

Should things be so bad that you cannot continue to attend work, then consult your doctor and explain what is happening at work. You want to make it very clear that your working environment is oppressive, and having a “detrimental impact” upon [both] your mental and physical health. Your doctor will likely sign you off from work due to “work related stress” due to the fact the working environment is [prejudicial] to your health.

Provide the “fit note” to your employer’s Human Resources Department, NOT your line manager (see fitnotes). This will buy you sometime away from your working environment, to think things through. The grievance procedure and your employer’s investigation can continue in your absence. You will likely find that your employer has a Grievance Handling Policy, which may be contractually binding. This policy should allow the aggrieved employee to correspond with the employer by writing during the interim period the employee is absent from work due to his/her “fitness” to attend work.

You want your employer to put as much in writing as possible. These [transcripts] can always be exhibited to the Employment Tribunal should your employer’s statements contain any informations from which you can draw inference against it. The employer is legally obliged to make “reasonable adjustments” for it employees’ who are disabled, or who fall under the definition of having a disability. Fitness to attend the grievance hearing will depend on the mental or physical health of the employee at the material time.

It’s always good to let your employer fall into its own traps. The more strings you can add to your bow, the better it will be for you in the Employment Tribunal. The more the employer writes, the more evidence you will gather against it.

Lodging a Tribunal Claim [ET1]

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As of January 2026, you must lodge an Employment Tribunal claim within three months less one day from the [last act] of discrimination or harassment. However, in October 2026 a new timeframe of six months will apply.

To lodge a claim in the Employment Tribunal for harassment, discrimination or victimisation, you do not have to resign. You can make a claim in the Employment Tribunal and still remain on as an employee should you wish. You can state in your Employment Tribunal claim that you want to remain as an employee with the company. The EHRC has a comprehensive website which is invaluable source of information to employees.

Should you want to make a claim to the Employment Tribunal for “breach of contract” then you would need to resign at some point in time. I strongly suggest that you consult an advisor at the EHRC and/or an employment law solicitor to obtain further information on this matter should your claim involve any aspect of discrimination, harassment, less favourable treatment, victimisation or a violation of your human rights.

If you want to have a look at the law, to see what your employer may be in breach of, then see the segment on Breach of Contract

Amy & I are employment consultants with 26 years combined experience. We can assist you in obviating the common mistakes, which we often see employees make when resigning or submitting their letter of resignation. You only get one chance to get this right, so make sure that you do!

Amy & I have created some new webpages for 2026 for you to look at:

• 20 Hot Tips on how to write a grievance letter.
• Free grievance letter example for ‘work-related stress, bullying, harassment and discrimination’.
• What not to say in a grievance meeting.
• How to win a grievance appeal.
• How to fight and beat a Performance Improvement Plan.
• Covert recordings.
• Pregnancy & Maternity Discrimination.
• Whistleblowing

Amy & I can have a telephone consultation with you or write you a custom letter of grievance if you need help on any of the following matters:

• grievance letter for bullying and harassment
• toxic working environment
• grievance letter against a coworker
• constructive unfair dismissal
• work-related stress
• stress at work employee rights UK
• grievance for work-related stress
• Sickness absence meeting
• what not to say to occupational health
• resignation letter
• raise a grievance at work.
• unfair treatment at work
• performance improvement plan
• how to beat a disciplinary hearing
• disciplinary workplace investigation.
• suspended from work
• blow the whistle
• victimisation at work UK
• workplace investigation
• reasonable adjustments equality act 2010.
• pregnancy and maternity discrimination
• sexual harassment in the workplace.
• disability discrimination
• what not to say at a grievance meeting

Visit our testimonials page.

Reach out to us at: myrightsuk@protonmail.com or call during working hours 9-5 on 07775943414.

We charge £35 for an initial telephone consultation up to one hour, and £50 an hour thereafter.