Constructive Dismissal

The conduct that founds a claim is usually one of a recognised set.

A unilateral reduction in pay, or persistent failure to pay on time.

Demotion, or removal of significant responsibilities, without agreement.

Indefinite suspension without pay, with no investigation progressing.

A fundamental change in duties or location imposed without contractual authority.

Failure to address serious harassment or bullying after it was properly reported.

Removing benefits the contract provided.

Behaving in a way that destroys the trust and confidence the employment relationship depends on.

Building the case happens before the resignation, not after it. Raise the issue in writing through the grievance procedure. Keep copies outside the work system. Give the employer a chance to put it right and record their response or their silence. Then, if nothing changes, resign in writing stating that you are resigning in response to the specific conduct and reserving your position.

A resignation letter thanking everybody for a wonderful few years makes the claim considerably harder.

The National Industrial Court has recognised constructive dismissal and applies international labour standards alongside Nigerian law, which is what makes the claim viable here.

The conduct that most often produces Nigerian claims is unpaid or reduced salary, indefinite unpaid suspension, and failure to act on harassment complaints. All three are common, and all three are fundamental rather than technical.

What defeats claims is process on the employee's side. An employee who never complained, never used the grievance procedure, worked on for eight months and then resigned citing conduct from the previous year is in difficulty, because the delay suggests they accepted the position.

The practical sequence for an employee is therefore: raise it in writing, keep the copy somewhere personal, allow a reasonable period for a response, escalate through the grievance procedure if there is one, and resign promptly and in writing if it is not resolved.

For employers, the exposure is created by informality. A salary reduction agreed verbally with everybody in a difficult month, a suspension that drifts, a harassment complaint handled by a quiet conversation. Each of those is a fundamental breach on paper, and an employer with no record of consent or of action taken has nothing to answer with.

The remedy where a claim succeeds is compensation, assessed as for an unfair dismissal.

Three ways employment ends, and the labels do not always match the substance.

A resignation is the employee choosing to leave. Terminal entitlements are paid, and there is no claim arising from the departure itself.

Constructive dismissal is a resignation caused by the employer's fundamental breach. In law it is a dismissal by the employer, and the employee can claim as though they had been dismissed.

Unfair dismissal is the court's conclusion where an employer dismissed without a valid reason or without a fair process. It is what a successful constructive dismissal claim leads to, because once the resignation is treated as a dismissal, the employer must justify it.

So constructive dismissal is the route, and unfair dismissal is the destination. An employee who resigns without establishing the first never reaches the second.

The threshold is high. Not every unfair or unpleasant employer conduct is a fundamental breach, and a claim based on accumulated frustration rather than a specific breach struggles.

Delay is the most common failure. An employee who works on without protest may be held to have affirmed the contract.

The burden is also on the employee to establish the breach, and where nothing was ever put in writing that is difficult.

And the practical cost is real. The employee has resigned, is without income, and is pursuing a claim that takes time to resolve, which is why many people with good cases do not bring them.