Wrongful constructive discharge is a form of wrongful termination where, instead of directly firing the employee, the employer creates working conditions so intolerable that the employee is effectively forced to resign. This resignation is not truly voluntary but is a result of the employer’s actions or the working environment being so unbearable that a reasonable person in the employee’s position would feel compelled to quit. Working conditions might become intolerable through insults, humiliation, demotion, or other forms of improper discrimination against the employee. For a claim of wrongful constructive discharge to be valid, the employer must violate the employment contract or public law by targeting the employee.
[Last updated in July of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]