What is the test for constructive dismissal in the context of management conduct in the workplace?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from Amanda Chapman v Martindale Animal Clinic, 2016 CanLII 7070 (ON LRB):

31. In Shah v. Xerox, supra at para 38, the court considered when an employer’s conduct in managing a workplace satisfies the objective test that it is incompatible with a continuation of the employment relationship: Where the conduct of management personnel is calculated to cause an employee to withdraw from the employment, it may, in my judgment, amount to constructive dismissal. The test, I believe, is objective: it is whether the conduct of the manager was such that a reasonable person in the circumstances should not be expected to persevere in the employment. As the particular circumstances are crucial, each case must be decided on its own facts. The test should not be lightly applied. An employer is entitled to be critical of the unsatisfactory work of its employees and, in general, to take such measures - disciplinary or otherwise - as it believes to be appropriate to remedy the situation. There is, however, a limit. If the employer's conduct in the particular circumstances passes so far beyond the bounds of reasonableness that the employee reasonably finds continued employment to be intolerable, there will, in my view, be constructive dismissal whether or not the employee purports to resign.

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