A Transfer Meant To Push You Out
The new posting felt designed to make you quit rather than to meet a need.
The new posting came with a worse title in practice, a hostile new manager, or duties clearly beneath what you were hired for. It felt less like redeployment and more like a push toward the door.
Some transfers are not really about business needs at all. When the real purpose looks like forcing someone to resign, the situation moves toward a genuine constructive dismissal claim.
How do the four conditions apply to a transfer like this?
The Bayer test asks whether the transfer breached a fundamental term, whether that breach was serious, whether you resigned because of it, and whether you acted without unreasonable delay1.
A transfer engineered to be humiliating or impossible to accept, rather than genuinely necessary for the business, can satisfy the first two of those conditions on its own.
What signs point to a hostile motive behind the transfer?
Timing right after a dispute, a role clearly beneath your seniority, or being the only person transferred while similar colleagues stayed put are all worth noting.
A transfer that was never properly explained, especially when asked about directly, adds further weight to an argument that it was not genuinely necessary.
What should you preserve if you decide to resign?
Keep the transfer letter, your request for an explanation if you made one, and any reply, along with your original job description for comparison.
Resign as close to the point of realising the transfer is untenable as possible, since delay can be read as accepting the change.
How long do you have once you resign?
You have sixty days from your resignation date to file a Section 20 representation with the Director General of Industrial Relations2.
Your employer carries the burden of showing the transfer was a genuine, good faith business decision, not a device to force your resignation3.
What should you do this week?
Write out the exact sequence, from any dispute or complaint, to the transfer notice, to your resignation, with dates for each step.
If distance or commute was also a factor in the transfer, read about being sent to a distant workplace, and use the deadline calculator to check your window.
Walking a lawyer through the sequence from dispute to transfer to resignation helps them see the pattern clearly.
Common questions
Does the transfer have to be obviously punishing to count?
Not necessarily obvious. Even a transfer dressed up as a normal business move can be challenged if the surrounding facts, such as timing and communication, suggest it was really meant to push you out.
What if I initially accepted the transfer before deciding to resign?
Accepting a transfer for a short period while assessing it is not automatically fatal to a claim, but a long delay before resigning can weaken the argument that you acted promptly.
Should I ask for the transfer in writing with a stated reason?
Yes, a written request for the business reason behind the transfer, and any reply, creates a useful record either way, whether they explain it clearly or avoid answering.
Does it matter if colleagues were also transferred around the same time?
It can help your employer's position if others were transferred for a clear, shared business reason, but it does not automatically clear a transfer that specifically targeted you differently or worse.
Sources
- The four Bayer conditions ask whether a breach was fundamental, sufficiently serious, the reason for resignation, and acted on without delay. Thomas Philip
- An employee who believes they were dismissed without just cause may file a Section 20 representation within sixty days of the dismissal. Mah Weng Kwai & Associates
- In an unfair dismissal case the burden of proof rests on the employer to show just cause or excuse for what happened. Mah Weng Kwai & Associates
Keep reading
Walking a lawyer through the sequence from dispute to transfer to resignation helps them see the pattern clearly.