Middle District of Florida Rejects Constructive Discharge Claim

Often times employees resign their position because they believe that the workplace is intolerable. The employe then attempts to assert discrimination and/or retaliation claims identifying the "forced resignation" (or constructive discharge) as the actionable adverse employment action. These claims are incredibly difficult to establish and a recent decision bears this point out.

In Bozarth v. Sunshine Chevrolet-Oldsmobile of Tarpon Springs, Inc., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25881 (M.D. Fla. March 19, 2010), the plaintiff, Jessica Bozarth, attempted to assert pregnancy discrimination and FMLA retaliation claims. The plaintiff's claims were premised, in large part, on an alleged constructive discharge. The plaintiff claimed that she could not tolerate the discrimination and retaliation in the workplace and that her resignation gave rise to claims under Title VII and the FMLA. In rejecting this claim, as a matter of law, the Court noted that to sustain a constructive discharge claim, the claim "must be so intolerable that a reasonable person would be forced to quit." The Court noted that while the plaintiff identified a numer of discrete events and testified she felt humiliated, she had failed to satisfy the significant threshold for a constructive discharge claim. Indeed, the Court ruled that an unwanted transfer, an unwanted change in pay, an offensive remark, and a change in job duties failed as a matter of law to establish a constructive discharge.

In sum, constructive discharge claims are difficult to plead and prove. An employee must establish frequent and significant discriminatory conduct for the Court to seriously entertain such a claim.