California labor law covers many topics about termination and resignation. Constructive discharge may be difficult to understand and navigate. Here’s what to know about constructive discharge in California.
Constructive discharge occurs when an employer’s misconduct ultimately forces an employee to resign. The employer intentionally creates or knowingly allows for such intolerable working conditions that the employee feels compelled to leave. The employer must be motivated to create a poor working environment to avoid terminating the employee for unlawful reasons. Instead of unlawfully firing an employee, the employer forces the employee out.
What is Constructive Discharge in California?
Constructive discharge occurs when an employer’s misconduct ultimately forces an employee to resign. California law defines constructive discharge as when an employer intentionally creates or knowingly permits such intolerable working conditions that the employee feels compelled to resign. An employee may be treated so poorly that they are coerced into leaving their job.
An employer would be motivated to create an intolerable working environment for an employee in a situation where outright termination would set off a wrongful termination case, such as discrimination or retaliation. In a constructive discharge situation, the employee leaves instead of the employer unlawfully firing them.
Why is Constructive Discharge Important?
Constructive discharge is important in protecting employee rights. When employees are fired, they are entitled to certain rights. When employees resign instead of being fired, they are not entitled to those rights. These rights include:
- Unemployment benefits
- Wrongful termination lawsuit
- Greater rewards from wrongful termination lawsuits
Without constructive discharge, employers would be able to unlawfully terminate employees and deny them their rights. California law recognizes constructive discharge and restores those rights to employees that prove they were constructively discharged.
How to Prove Constructive Discharge
In order to build a strong constructive discharge claim against an employer, employees must demonstrate that:
- Intolerable work conditions were in place when the employee resigned
- The work conditions were unusually difficult that a reasonable employee would feel compelled to leave
- The employer intentionally created or knowingly permitted the intolerable work conditions
- A reasonable employer would recognize that a reasonable employee would have no choice but to resign because of the working conditions
- The employer had the motivation to terminate the employee for unlawful reasons such as discrimination, retaliation, or breach of contract.
The intolerable working conditions must have been extreme enough to overwhelm a reasonable employee’s need to work. These conditions must be continuous and present at the time of the employee’s resignation. Individual or isolated incidents of misconduct are insufficient to prove constructive discharge.
The employer must have known about the negative impact of the intolerable working conditions and continued to contribute to or permit the mistreatment.
Furthermore, the employee must prove that the employer had reason to terminate the employee for unlawful reasons. Instead of unlawfully firing the employee, the employer instead created poor working conditions to force the employee to resign. Unlawful reasons to fire an employee may include:
- Violating an implied contract
- Violating public policy
- Termination for whistleblower activities
- Violating the Fair Employment and Housing Act, including discrimination and exercising employee rights
Related: How to Prove Constructive Discharge in California
Intolerable Working Conditions
The central component of a constructive discharge case is effectively demonstrating intolerable working conditions. The standard for proving intolerable working conditions is high. Intolerable working conditions typically including yelling, screaming, intimidating, humiliating, or berating an employee.
California courts have found the following actions as NOT being considered intolerable working conditions:
- Reduced pay
- Demotion
- Single, isolated incidents of mistreatment
- Unfair performance evaluations
- Branch transfer
Enduring Intolerable Working Conditions
Employees may worry that they cannot file a constructive discharge lawsuit if they endured the intolerable working conditions. California courts treat this situation differently depending on the length of an employee’s stay.
Employees may be able to withstand the intolerable working conditions and stay on the job because they need to work. Courts recognize that people need their jobs to survive and may be able to withstand poor conditions. Employees that continued to work under intolerable working conditions may still be eligible for monetary compensation in a constructive discharge case.
However, if an employee stays on the job and endures intolerable working conditions for a very long time, it will be harder to prove that the working conditions were terrible enough to coerce an employee into leaving. The longer the employee stays, the more it seems that the working conditions were insufficient to compel an employee to leave.
Statute of Limitations for Filing a Constructive Discharge Lawsuit
The statute of limitations is a rule in legal procedure that prevents an injured party from filing a lawsuit or claim after a certain time period. If an employee wishes to file a constructive discharge lawsuit, they must do so within a designated time period for the court to consider it. Once the time period has passed, the employee cannot file a constructive discharge lawsuit against the employee.
Different types of wrongful termination in a constructive discharge lawsuit have different statutes of limitations. The statute of limitations for the different types are as follows:
- Two years
- Violation of an implied contract
- Violation of public policy
- Three years
- Termination for whistleblower activities
- Violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act, including discrimination and exercising employee rights.
At-Will Employment and Constructive Termination
In California, most employees work “at-will.” This means that the employee may leave their job at any time, and employers may fire their employees at any time for any lawful reason, or no reason at all. The employer is fully within their legal right to fire an employee at any time for no reason or even arbitrary reasons, as long as the reason is lawful.
At-will employees are not entitled to monetary damages in a constructive discharge case. An at-will employee may be terminated at any time and employers are allowed to create intolerable work conditions for at-will employees.
Related: At-Will Employment in California
Examples of Constructive Discharge
Whistleblower Activities
A woman working at a restaurant notices health and safety violations at the restaurant. She reports it to a state agency that fines and inspects the restaurant. After the state agency gets involved, the woman begins to receive verbal abuse and threats from other coworkers. The supervisors are aware of the verbal abuse but allow it to continue. The abuse begins to negatively affect the woman’s well-being and she feels compelled to leave her job.
This woman’s case would be an example of constructive discharge for wrongful termination due to whistleblower activities. She reported a health and safety violation and faced intolerable working conditions for whistleblowing. The employer cannot lawfully terminate an employee for whistleblower activities, so the employer permitted an intolerable working environment to force the employee out.
Violation of Implied Contract
A man is hired as an administrative assistant for a company without an employment contract, but his boss verbally promises not to fire him without good cause. After a few years, the boss is looking to hire someone else who will do the job for less pay. The boss begins to physically intimidate the employee and berate him for minor mistakes. The mistreatment becomes too much to handle and the employee resigns.
This man’s case would be an example of constructive discharge for wrongful termination violation of an implied contract. The boss and the employee were tied in an implied contract through the boss’s verbal promise. The employer cannot lawfully terminate an employee in an implied contract to hire someone else so the employer created an intolerable working environment to force the employee out.
Related: Implied Employment Contracts & Wrongful Termination in California
FAQs
What is constructive discharge in California?
Constructive discharge occurs when an employer intentionally created or knowingly permitted such intolerable working conditions that an employee feels compelled to leave. Additionally, the employer is motivated to create an intolerable working environment because firing the employee outright would be considered wrongful termination. Instead of unlawfully terminating an employee, the employer forces the employee to leave.
Why is constructive discharge important?
Constructive discharge is important because it protects employee rights. Employees are entitled to certain rights if they are fired, but not if they resign. Constructive discharge recognizes that employees may be coerced into resigning and restores their rights.
What do I need to prove constructive discharge in California?
In order to prove constructive discharge, the employee must demonstrate the following: that there were intolerable working conditions when the employee resigned, that the conditions were so difficult that the employee felt reasonably compelled to leave, that the employer intentionally permitted or created the intolerable working conditions, that the employer would recognize that the employee would resign because of the working conditions, and that the employer had motivation to terminate the employee for unlawful reasons. Unlawful reasons include discrimination, violation of public policy, violation of implied contract, and retaliation for whistleblower activities.
What is considered an intolerable working environment in California?
An intolerable working environment typically includes yelling, screaming, intimidating, humiliating, or berating an employee. Courts have recognized the following actions as NOT being considered working conditions: reduced pay, demotion, isolated incidents of mistreatment, branch transfer, and unfair performance evaluations.
Are at-will employees entitled to constructive discharge lawsuits?
No, at-will employees are not entitled to constructive discharge lawsuits. At-will employment means employees may leave their jobs at any time, and employers may fire their employees at any time for any lawful reason, or no reason at all. Employers have the right to create an intolerable working environment for their employees.
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