Background:

The Complainant was employed as a Customer Relations Advisor with the Respondent from 9 October 2017 to the date of her resignation and alleged constructive dismissal on 30 April 2021, for which the Complainant gave 30 days' notice. The Complainant claimed that two incidents at work and an unsatisfactory grievance procedure arising from the second incident created an environment which entitled the Complainant to resign and claim constructive dismissal.

The Respondent claimed the Complainant resigned her employment without exhausting or fully utilising the Respondent’s internal grievance procedure and did not provide the Respondent enough time to implement the recommendations that arose from the outcome report of that grievance procedure. The outcome report upheld the Complainant’s grievances and made a number of recommendations that would support the Complainant in addressing the issues she had raised.

Outcome:

The Adjudication Officerfound that a Complainant who wishes to claim unfair dismissal resulting from constructive dismissal must first substantially utilise a grievance procedure. Constructive dismissal can only arise if the Complainant can prove either that the Respondent acted in such a way that repudiated the contract of employment and entitled the Respondent to resign due to that repudiatory breach, or because the Respondent’s treatment of the Complainant was so unbearable that it was reasonable for the Complainant to resign in the circumstances. The Adjudication Officer found the Complainant’s resignation failed to meet either of these tests, and as a result, her resignation could not be considered a constructive dismissal. Without a dismissal on the part of the Respondent, the Complainant’s complaint was not well-founded.

Practical Guidance for Employers:

An employer is not always liable for a potential claim before the WRC if they make missteps in managing an employee. Employers who have a functioning grievance procedure and utilise it fairly and rigorously are entitled to take any findings of such a procedure and act upon them to remedy any missteps. If good-faith efforts are made through such a procedure, the employer is likely to successfully defend any subsequent claim of unfair dismissal arising from constructive dismissal.

The full case is here: https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2023/august/adj-00033265.html