Question: If an employer makes changes that significantly increase employee workloads with no additional compensation and some employees express concern over the mental stress this will cause, does that raise liability for an unsafe workplace or create the risk for work refusals?
Answer: Significantly increasing an employee’s workload may subject an employer to legal liability for constructive dismissal. Generally speaking, constructive dismissal occurs when there has been a fundamental breach by the employer of the employee’s contract of employment. The law has long recognized that when an employer unilaterally makes substantial changes to the essential terms or conditions of an employee’s employment contract without the employee’s consent and the employee leaves their job as a result of such changes, the employee has not resigned but has been constructively dismissed. This may entitle the aggrieved employee to common law damages.
