1. Employers, scorched by constructive dismissal claims based on layoffs and cuts in hours and wages, are requiring employees to sign new employment contracts giving them the right to lay off, reduce wages or cut hours without that constituting a constructive dismissal.
2. Employers are drafting contracts that allow them to direct employees to work from home, work remotely or change their location of work at their whim. 3. Employers that do not have that right in their contracts have quickly learned that they can offer employees a choice of either a layoff or termination — a strategy that would save them from being successfully sued. Most employees will accept a layoff given that choice, but then can’t sue for constructive dismissal.
6. With unionized employees being laid off with impunity and unable to sue for wrongful dismissal like their non-union peers, many are reluctant to join unions while some unionized employees are looking to decertify. Union decertification is another growing area at my firm.