Employer skirts constructive discharge claim

Some good lessons here.

I assume our readers all know what a “constructive discharge” is, but just in case you don’t, it’s when an employer deliberately makes the employee’s life at work so miserable that the employee feels forced to quit.

A “constructive discharge” has the same legal effect as an actual termination. In other words, the employer can be sued just as if it had fired the employee.

For example, let's say a supervisor tries to hit on an employee, and when she rejects his advances, he threatens to fire her. And let’s say that she reports her supervisor’s conduct to HR, and the HR person laughs, tells her to lighten up, and never addresses it with the supervisor or even investigates. Meanwhile, the supervisor's harassment continues and even escalates.

If this hypothetical emp