Build your constructive dismissal timeline
Turn scattered events into an ordered story a lawyer can use.
Why order matters here
Constructive dismissal is judged by the contract test: whether your employer broke a fundamental term of your contract, and whether you left because of it.1
A court also checks that the breach was serious, that you resigned in response to it, and that you did not wait too long before resigning.2 A clear timeline is how you show all four points at once.
Build the timeline in five steps
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List every relevant event with a date, even an approximate one, starting from when things first changed for the worse.
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Mark which single event was the biggest change to your role, pay or conditions. That is your likely breach event.
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Note the date you resigned, and count how many weeks or months passed between the breach and your resignation.
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Write one line for each event describing what happened and who was present, while your memory is still fresh.
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Gather any document tied to each event, an email, a payslip, a message, so every line on your timeline has something behind it.
What to do with your result
Keep the finished timeline as a single document, ordered by date, with the breach event and your resignation clearly marked.
If a long gap separates the breach from your resignation, be ready to explain why, since delay is one of the four points a lawyer will ask about.
Read what constructive dismissal means alongside your timeline, and check the deadline calculator since the sixty day window still applies from your resignation date.
How a lawyer helps from here
A lawyer reads your timeline against the four conditions and tells you where it is strong and where it needs more detail before a representation is lodged. They can also help you word the resignation letter or follow up correspondence so it lines up with the story your timeline tells.
Common questions
Do I need exact dates for every event?
Get as close as you can. An approximate month is better than leaving a gap, but check your emails, payslips and messages first, because exact dates strengthen how the sequence reads to a lawyer and later to the court.
What counts as the breach event?
It is usually the single clearest act, a salary cut, a demotion, a forced transfer, that changed your role or terms without your agreement. Smaller frustrations still matter, but the timeline should make that one event easy to find.
Keep reading
Once your timeline is in order, sending it to a lawyer turns a confusing few months into a case they can assess quickly.