Is Your Boss Trying to Push You Out? Spot the Signs

Being excluded from meetings, stripped of responsibilities or suddenly subjected to poor performance reviews could signal that an employer is trying to "manage you out". Here is what South African employees should know about constructive dismissal and protecting their workplace rights.

Imagine arriving at work, ready to tackle the week, only to find you have been excluded from key meetings, your core responsibilities have been stripped away and your manager's tone has suddenly turned icy. No one has explicitly told you that you are being fired, but it may feel as though your employer wants you to leave.

In South Africa, this subtle squeezing out of an employee is often referred to as being "managed out". In some cases, employers may make working conditions increasingly difficult in the hope that an employee will resign, rather than pursuing a formal disciplinary, performance management or retrenchment process.

South African labour law provides employees with protections in circumstances where an employer's conduct makes continued employment intolerable.

Here is what you need to know to spot the warning signs and protect your rights.

Employers are unlikely to send an email stating that they are trying to push you out. Instead, an employee may experience a pattern of conduct that makes remaining in the workplace increasingly difficult. Warning signs can include:

Isolation: Being deliberately excluded from crucial team discussions or subjected to humiliation or bullying in front of colleagues.

Demotion: Being unreasonably demoted or moved into an inferior position, potentially accompanied by threats of dismissal or other consequences for objecting.

Unjustified disciplinary action: Suddenly facing allegations of misconduct without being given a fair opportunity to respond.

Unfair assessments: Receiving consistently unfavourable performance evaluations that do not reflect your actual performance or output.

When faced with this type of treatment, your first instinct may be to resign simply to escape the situation. But resigning too quickly could make it more difficult to pursue a subsequent claim.

Section 186(1)(e) of South Africa's Labour Relations Act defines dismissal as including circumstances in which "an employee terminated employment with or without notice because the employer made continued employment intolerable for the employee".

A constructive dismissal claim can be difficult to prove before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, or CCMA. The employee must first establish that a dismissal, as contemplated by the act, occurred. This generally requires demonstrating that the employee terminated the employment relationship because the employer had made continued employment intolerable.

The circumstances surrounding the resignation, including whether the employee attempted to address the problem internally where reasonable and appropriate, may be important to the case. Resigning hastily and without adequate evidence could therefore undermine a subsequent claim.