How to submit a claim for constructive dismissal

Direct 2 Lawyers
September 10, 2012

If you think that you’ve got a claim for constructive dismissal then you’ve got two choices as to how you can proceed. You can either:

Instruct an unfair dismissal solicitor; or
Submit and undertake your claim yourself

There are advantages and disadvantages to both instructing a solicitor and undertaking the claim yourself but we’re not going to cover that in this particular article. In this article we’ll be looking at the second option – submitting and undertaking your constructive dismissal claim yourself. There is a more comprehensive resource on how to submit your constructive dismissal claim at Direct 2 Lawyers and this article will be a summarised version on the above. Please note: this article doesn’t address the substantive law relating to constructive dismissal; only the practical steps relating to how to submit a claim. However, you can see a constructive dismissal explanation by the clicking the link. We’ll therefore be focussing on the following in this article:

What is constructive dismissal?
How you can best prepare for your constructive dismissal claim
Documents you’ll need in your constructive dismissal claim
How to submit your constructive dismissal claim
Important dates in your claim

What is constructive dismissal?

A constructive dismissal may occur if you’re forced to resign from your employment because of your employer’s conduct (or one of its employees’ conduct) towards you. For example, if you’re being bullied or harassed by a colleague of yours and your employer is aware of this (and fails to take reasonable action to stop the bullying and harassment) then you may be entitled to resign from your employment and claim constructive dismissal.

How you can best prepare for your constructive dismissal claim

The steps below assume that you’ve already resigned from your employment or intend to resign from your employment.

Submit a grievance – submit a grievance relating to the way you’ve been treated by your employer (or their staff). You can use this grievance letter template to submit your grievance. Click here to find out how to write a grievance letter. Make sure that you comply with the grievance process as much as possible.
Get some advice – contact a constructive unfair dismissal solicitor to get a free employment law consultation. This can help you clarify the relevant issues in your case and give you confidence that you’re on the right track. You may even be able to get no win no fee employment tribunal representation
Work out your limitation date – extremely important. You have three months less one day from the date of your resignation to submit your constructive dismissal claim to the Employment Tribunal. For example, if you resigned from your employment on 2 February 2012 then you had until 1 May 2012 to submit your claim.
Gather relevant documents – have a search for any documents that you think might be relevant to your claim. This will include (among others) your contract of employment, correspondence (such as emails, letters, telephone conversations etc.) and company procedures.
List the documents – make a list of the documents you’ve gathered
Create your witness statement – write down everything that’s happened to you through your employment that’s relevant to why you’ve resigned. No detail is too small. Do this before you submit your claim – memories fade quickly and you’ll want to be sure that you’ve got important facts right. Click on the adjacent link for an Employment Tribunal witness statement example
Draft a schedule of loss – find a schedule of loss template and draft your schedule of loss.
Complete your ET1 – download ET1 claim form and complete it
Submit your ET1 – submit your ET1 to the relevant Employment Tribunal by email

Documents you’ll need in your constructive dismissal claim

You’ll need the following documents (among others) to undertake your constructive dismissal claim:

Employment Tribunal schedule of loss template
Employment Tribunal witness statement
Employment Tribunal ET1 form

How to submit your constructive dismissal claim

Send your completed ET1 form by email to the relevant Employment Tribunal before your limitation date.

Important dates in your claim

As soon as you decide to claim constructive dismissal diarise the limitation date in your claim.

After you’ve submitted your claim you’ll either:

Receive a Case Management Order from the Employment Tribunal setting down the various dates in your claim. Diarise these immediately.
Receive an invitation to a Case Management Discussion where the dates for your claim will be laid down (such as the dates for witness statement exchange, schedule of loss submission etc.)

And that’s how you submit a claim!

Direct 2 Lawyers offer free employment law advice for employers and also free employment law advice for employees – contact a no win no fee unfair dismissal lawyer today.