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That company says that if you need extra help they might arrange it for you and pass the bill on to you.
or they might send you home and charge you the expenses. I think their argument is that tour guides are not carers.
I think they're not allowed to charge you for making reasonable adjustments. I know that employers aren't allowed to charge for that so it makes sense that service providers also can't charge for it. Also, if they promise something beforehand they have to provide it. They can refuse beforehand to provide certain adjustments but they have to justify that in terms of fulfilling a legitimate aim.
Holidays As I warned a Holiday Company I get lost easily they told me to get a Doctor's letter and they would expect me to keep up with the group myself although I had been twice with them before and the guides were helpful. I rang up a help line and by the way I cannot get through to the NAS help line. I was told that if I sued the Holiday Company I would probably not win on reasonable adjustments as the guides are not carers. I think the Equality Act is largely a waste of time as providers can just get round it. In Spain the guide in Seville for example asked the others from our boat trip to escort me to the meeting point. She took good care of me as said that she got her skills in dealing with me as she had children. The guide in Austria helped me by keeping answering his mobile when I lost the group but he said that the company cannot give me extra help as we were leaving. Since then the company has put in their rules that you should be mentally and physically well enough to do the holiday and if you need extra help they might get it for you and charge you for it or they might send you home and charge you for the expenses. They also say that making reasonable adjustments might not include pushing wheel chairs or providing supervision. What is the point of the EQUALITY ACT?
Not yet unfortunately. Case delayed...
It would be very useful to many of us to know how this case went. Do you have an update for us?
Just an extra bit of advice regarding the workplace assessment - if your employer says they can’t afford it then you could offer to pay for it yourself (if you can), or you could advise them they can get help with the cost through Access to Work.
Best of luck, I really do hope things improve for you. Do let me know if I can be of any further assistance.
Thank you very much for all the advice.
I think I have to do all of them at the same time.
1. Putting some more pressure on the for adjustments e.g. put to them in writing what you require, set out their legal requirements, and ask for them to respond in writing telling me what adjustments they make.
2. Looking for another job whilst still working.
3. Trying to set up my self-employment.
4. Looking at option to receive benefits.
I am going to ask for a workplace assessment.
There is no way I can defend this sort of matter myself - I firstly do not have the time, secondly I’m not currently well enough, and thirdly the matter is extremely legally complex due to a number of nuances. If it was a case of presenting the original claims that would be fine, but it’s not and far more is to be considered which is demonstrated by the fact that both parties instructed barristers in this matter - it’s too much for even experienced solicitors.
If an agreement is breached you’re supposed to claim breach of contract in the civil courts, but I instead asked for reinstatement of my claim in the Employment Tribunals (because I either wanted my claims to go through a full hearing or to get exactly what was agreed in the settlement, neither of which I would get through a breach of contract claim).
My claim wasn’t reinstated, the Tribunal struck it out because of the existence of the settlement agreement (they don’t care it has been breached - that’s a civil court matter). As such, my employer is arguing that I should have to pay their costs in defending my application for reinstatement (which isn’t all the costs they have incurred throughout the case), and they have a good argument given the judgement going in their favour.
Maybe you can defend it by yourself from now? The struggling should be over, I mean finding proof and so. If you represent yourself you wont have more costs...
But I can't really make out what you wrote up there as the reason for their claim. You reinstated your claim, because they refused a part of the settlement. And because you reinstated it, then you have suddenly done something wrong? What can that possibly be?
I see exactly what you mean Mandy. Though to be fair, the terms of my agreement are very clear (even the Employment Tribunal Judge said so), it’s just that my former employer is being an idiot and pretending they aren’t.
They are making the application on the basis that my claim had no reasonable prospect of success in light of the settlement agreement. Basically this has nothing to do with who breached the agreement (that’s a civil court matter), but because I asked the Employment Tribunal to reinstate my claim due to the refusal of my employer to comply with the agreement. That action they are arguing had no reasonable prospects of success, and in light of the recent judgement they’ve got a good argument.
Sadly I’m not sure anyone can really help me in this situation. As I say, if they’re awarded the money then I simply can’t live with that, and I don’t see what could change that. It is however greatly helpful to me to be able to discuss the matter on here (as the rest of the time I deal with it all on my own, and it’s a huge burden for one person to carry), so thank you so much for taking the time listen to me and to respond, though I have rather harped on at you...
As the application was only submitted on Monday I’ve yet to be advised by my solicitors as to what will happen next and how fast. I assume there will be arguments submitted by both sides and a hearing to determine the issue, which means more legal costs to pay! I’ll have to defend it though, so there’s not much choice about incurring more costs.
Well, my employer’s solicitors have now made an application to the Employment Tribunal for their costs from February 2017 to be awarded against me...a whole £17,895.10 in costs!
That’s me screwed if they get it - I’m not working for the rest of my life to pay back those who did me so much harm. I can’t afford it anyway on top of the £40,000 plus I’ve spent on legal costs up to now (with nothing in return).
No problem.
There certainly are employers who will make adjustments as I described - both of my current employers did and I know of others who had adjustments made for them at interview. Do remember that employers are legally bound to make reasonable adjustments for disabilities. If an employer refused to do so it would be illegal, but would also indicate to you that they’re unlikely to be supportive of you in the long run, and thus it wouldn’t be wise working for them anyway.
I am so sorry to hear of your situation - I do know through personal experience what it’s like. You could try looking for another job whilst still working where you are now to ensure you have an income.
Or, if you really don’t feel able to leave then how about putting some more pressure on the for adjustments e.g. put to them in writing what you require, set out their legal requirements, and ask for them to respond in writing telling you what adjustments they make. Then ask for dates of implementation in writing. That would make it very difficult for them to refuse you any adjustments because you could use the correspondence as evidence against them in a legal case. Another thing to consider is asking for a workplace assessment:
http://www.autism.org.uk/professionals/training-consultancy/employment/assessments.aspx
Thank you very much for this post!
I would definitely prefer to give written responses instead of spoken and more time to be given for me to answer questions.
If I would need to answer to them then I would prefer questions to be yes/no questions only.
I would definitely prefer to get the questions in advance of the interview, so that I could prepare answers and then read them out during the interview. This would very helpful.
I would prefer for the questions to be reworded so that they are simpler to understand/process.
I might be interested in a work trial instead of interview.
Thank you very much for the ideas.
I have also looked for pictures of the people online so that I will know who they are when I see them.
Thank you for the long post. It was is very helpful.
I am just wondering, in real life, are there employers out there who are happy to do these adjustments?
I am really sorry but I have not seen myself any employer in real life who would be happy about this and would be happy to do them.
Unfortunately, I feel that I am torturing myself everyday by working in the environment that is not suitable for me. I know that it is not worth it for my health but I have no choice. I need to keep my budget in balance. Otherwise, I will not be able to pay the bills and I will get other problems.
My health now is much worse than it was 4 years ago and it is still slowly going down.
I know that it time to say goodbye to them but I really need to know where I am going to. If I simply leave, I will be completely stressed out and enormously anxious about keeping my budget in balance.
With regards to difficulties with job interviews, there are a few options in terms of reasonable adjustments:
1) You can ask for a work trial instead of interview.
2) You could ask to give written responses instead of spoken.
3) You could ask for questions to be yes/no questions only.
4) You could ask for the questions in advance of the interview, so that you could prepare answers and then read them out during the interview.
5) You could ask for questions to be reworded so that they are simpler to understand/process.
6) You could ask for more time to be given for you to answer questions.
Of course, there are many more options in terms of adjustment requests, but I tried to detail ones that would help with your specific issues.
For me personally, when preparing for an interview the following helps me:
1) I make sure I know everything I can about the company, the job role and the people interviewing me beforehand. It may sound a bit odd but I specifically look for pictures of these people online so that I will know who they are when I see them.
2) I will do a dummy run prior to the interview date, where I will travel to the place of interview in order to check timings, parking facilities, where I am supposed to go, how busy it is etc.
3) I disclose my Asperger’s upon applications for jobs, that way I know that anyone who has invited me to interview is not bothered by the fact that I’m autistic. Further, it means I can ask for adjustments at interview and those interviewing are aware that my peculiar answers/mannerisms are due to my autism.
4) I found that applying for and interviewing for jobs that I knew were below my skill set helped me to be more confident about the whole process. I realise it’s not always advisory to do that, but it hasn’t cost me in the long run - I started in one temporary role on minimum wage, but after three months I was offered a permanent contract with a higher wage and more fitting for my skills. Sometimes it’s easier to sell your skills after the interview...
5) Knowing I had applied for a job with an employer who fully understood autism. This one isn’t easily done, but it really helped me - in the interview they changed some of the questions to help me, without me even asking them to!
Sorry to write such a long post, but I hope that some of those things could offer you some assistance with your difficulties. Of course it’s your choice if you try to change jobs or not, but I wouldn’t advise torturing yourself on a daily basis by working in an environment that is difficult for you - it’s not worth it for your health. So if your current employer won’t make adjustments or help you in any way despite clear attempts to get them to do so, I think it’s time to say goodbye to them.
Thank you for your kind words Lonewarrior. I am sorry to hear of your own battle for justice, but I’m pleased to hear that you got a good outcome in the end. It certainly is very taxing to have to constantly fight such a battle, particularly when you just want what is fair and right.
You may have noticed that I have a quote on my profile background from George Orwell ‘The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.’ I believe this is accurate and reflected in the suffering myself, you, and others have had to endure purely for telling the truth and wanting honesty. It’s appalling.
Whatever happens in my case, and whatever I lose, I agree with you in that at least I don’t have a guilty conscience and I know I tried my utmost to get justice. That is something that matters - I’m the bigger person than them. Further, I will continue to fight for reforms to the Employment Tribunal system, and other areas I see injustice, in the hope that I can help prevent others from experiencing what I have.
My very best wishes to you. Clearly you are amazing too given your own experience! ()