One of the big factors in your friends decision on how to handle the situation is the length of time he has worked for the company. Generally, a company will take the 'make your life miserable ' approach with a longer term employee because an outright termination can be costly, so they resort to tactics like this to try and make the employee quit in order to save on severance costs. I can tell you that embarking on a constructive dismissal case is risky. Firstly, as soon as you walk out, all salary and benefits stop, so you have no income. If you win the constructive dismissal suit, you get all the money at the end, less the significant legal fees (generally 20% of the total award). Total time for a constructive dismissal case can be 1 year or more. In the mean time, you have to look for a new job anyway to mitigate your damages. If you lose the case, you get nothing and in some cases, the company can even sue to recover their legal costs, so you'd end up in the hole. If your friend is a short term employee, there is little to be gained as most of it will end of going to the lawyer, if they take the case in the first place.
If he is getting this kind of treatment, then the writing is on the wall. He can either wait them out for a severance, provoke them a little (which is risky if you don't know what you are doing), or he could even ask for a severance package. One way or another, the company is going to get him out, so his goal should be try and get some money in the process to help with his transition to another job. Negotiating an exit package is far better than launching a constructive dismissal suit.
As with all posts before, a consult with a good lawyer will help him. I'd steer clear of the ones that would talk him into a constructive dismissal suit and listen to the ones that would help him try and get a negotiated severance deal.
My 2 cents.
If he is getting this kind of treatment, then the writing is on the wall. He can either wait them out for a severance, provoke them a little (which is risky if you don't know what you are doing), or he could even ask for a severance package. One way or another, the company is going to get him out, so his goal should be try and get some money in the process to help with his transition to another job. Negotiating an exit package is far better than launching a constructive dismissal suit.
As with all posts before, a consult with a good lawyer will help him. I'd steer clear of the ones that would talk him into a constructive dismissal suit and listen to the ones that would help him try and get a negotiated severance deal.
My 2 cents.
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