Constructive dismissal claim???

[Chuckles78]

Just looking for some advice about events in my workplace. Some info - I work as a manager for a large company in the retail sector and have done for 8+ years. This company has many outlets in this country and the world. In the past few years a senior manager left, (constructive dismissal - they actually won their case) and was replaced by another. This person has done nothing but bully many many people since day one to the point that in the past year 11 managers from one small area alone with well over 100 years experience at the company between them have resigned. In virtually all cases, (I know this as fact), they have stated this manager was their reason for leaving. HR department are well aware of the situation and in fact have even complained about this person also.
What I want to know is, although it's difficult to be successful in a constructive dismissal case would these people improve their chances if they banded together? And also, why would a multinational company do absolutely nothing about the situation?
Thanks in advance

I'm not a lawyer but probably not. Because constructive dismissal is about breaching of an individual's contract it would depend what has happened to each person and how it has been handled, so if person A has followed the grievance procedure but person B has not you are not looking at like for like so it can't all be judged together. I'm fairly sure that the other parties can give witness evidence at someone else's tribunal though - happy to be corrected on those points by people who know better.

Has anybody raised a grievance against this manager? It's hard to act unless someone actually makes an official complaint. Not liking a manager does not always mean bad treatment (sometimes it's actually the opposite case) but an unheld grievance makes it much easier to take action.

There is also a big difference between stating someone is the reason why you've left and giving that as the offical reason IYSWIM.

They couldn't bring a class action, no. For those the basic facts need to be the same, so it would normally be unfair dismissal where a group of people have been dismissed at the same time in the same way, or equal pay claims where group A are paid less than group B.

For this type of case the facts would all be different. Plus if these resignations have taken place over a year most of them will be out of time now anyway - you only have 3 months to bring a tribunal claim.

Constructive dismissal is very tricky at the best of times, but in cases like this it's even more difficult, with no clear breach of contract by the employer - it's very 'he said she said' and actions are very open to interpretation.

At the very least someone wanting to bring a constructive dismissal claim for bullying would have to demonstrate that resignation was their only option, in other words that they'd exhausted all internal options to resolve the situation.

Far better would be for someone still employed to bring a formal grievance to HR about the bullying. That way the company would have to investigate and find either in favour of the complainant or the bully. Putting them on the spot like this forces the company to do something because if they don't then they are at a high risk of legal action. It is far easier for companies to claim ignorance of matters when people just up and leave; by putting in a complaint you can demonstrate that the company is aware of the matter and has decided not to do X,Y and Z to address it. Gives you a likely chance of being successful in court.

Thanks for the responses, I wasn't aware of the 3 month rule but as it happens one of these people is claiming for constructive dismissal. There have been many complaints about this person. In the exit interviews the people resigning have all claimed it was because of them. This person has now started conducting the exit interviews as a way of stopping this getting back to HR. I'm just disgusted that this is being allowed to continue. That people are desperate to leave their jobs in this current economic climate speaks volumes to me. I'm currently applying for a demotion so that I don't have to have any contact with this person. Honestly they are just poisonous.

You still haven't suggested anyone's raised a grievance. Why haven't you if it's so bad? (Just curious more than anything!)

I would be very surprised if HR are not taking this seriously if a tribunal case has been petitioned although what they can do before the evidence has been heard if no one uses the internal processes I don't know. But then I never underestimate the capacity some people have to Do Nothing In A Difficult Situation.

Whoops sorry not made myself clear, when I said there were complaints made I actually meant grievances. As for why I can't raise a grievance well the truth is I'm on maternity leave. Once I announced I was pregnant I was shut out. Not included in emails, phone calls, meetings. Before this I was constantly accused of lying about all manner of things despite other managers being able to back my claims. Believe me I got off lightly compared to what happened to others.

The biggest fact: You MUST resign before you can claim constructive dismissal...your claim (to your Employment Tribunal) will be based upon a fundamental breach of contract by your employer - that what they did (or failed to do) fundamentally breached the contract between you both (implied or explicit). It sounds - from the facts you detail - that your employer has treated you very shabbily and certainly would appear to have breached the fundamental relationship of trust which is expected between employer and employee. ETs will prefer that you have raised the issue with your employer - that the employer has been given an opportunity to follow agreed procedures. But this won't always be possible - so you must be able to provide good reasons for not having gone through internal procedures.
So many people imagine that they can raise a constructive dismissal claim whilst still in employment. You can't.

Above is correct - I have been there so I know. You can raise a grievance while still in employment but cd can only be proven when employee resigns due to employer's behaviour I tried to raise a grievance and they got worse so no choce to resign as life unbearable -they even paid unannounced visits to my house and I was sexually assaulted (minor but was intended to be worse) Sorry my case was extreme harrassment and not common but resignation is the result- it just goes that way

brief hijack so you have to raise CD after you've resigned but within 3 months. Is that 3 months of resigning or leaving? What if you have to give 3 months notice?

You've got to resign and then claim CD within 3 months of that resignation... the cases I've dealt with people haven't worked their notice. They've gone through an internal process (which has failed them) and found that they simply couldn't work any longer. If you're claiming CD the basis of your claim is that your employer have fundamentally breached the contract between you - it would be extraordinary to expect those (in my experience traumatised) people to continue working their notice.

The three months starts from the date employment was terminated. With constructive dismissal often the idea is that things are so bad you can't possibly stay a moment longer so for that reason it's usual to terminate immediately and not work notice as evie says.

hmmm problem in this case is that unless the person works their notice in full (3 months) they will lose a significant lump sum which is due at the end of their employment. Too much to risk by not working notice.