Constructive discharge, also known as constructive dismissal, happens when an employee quits their job because their employer makes the work environment so intolerable that the employee feels they have no other choice. The employee may resign voluntarily, but the conditions leading to the resignation were not reasonable.
 
It occurs when an employer creates or permits intolerable, hostile, or discriminatory workplace conditions that compel a reasonable person to resign. Because this resignation is coerced, the law treats it as an involuntary termination, granting the employee legal remedies similar to a direct firing.