Published on 12, July, 2020
For the sake of confidentiality and ongoing proceedings, I will not disclose names of organisations or individuals concerned.
Background: I was diagnosed when I was 19 with autism. I had never worked before before this. I am now in my early 20’s and managed to get a job 2 years ago. I was not recruited through normal methods, I was given an opportunity on a scheme which became an apprenticeship but wasn’t considered recruited through fair and open therefore I couldn’t apply for internal vacancies, only external. I was given a contract and I had the same employment rights as everyone else.
My autism traits of repetition and accuracy allowed me to produce the work at extreme speed, productivity that had never been heard of and 100% accuracy.
A year into my apprenticeship, a vacancy within the office for the exact job role I was doing was being advertised. I applied and was given a judgment test but I failed it. I asked for it to be bypassed quoting caselaw; Betts Vs The Government Legal Service. This was then bypassed a week later. Then for the interview. It was a competency based interview and I failed it. No reasonable adjustments were put in place and I’m currently going through an ET.
The thing that really concerns me within the autism community is the percentage of autistic adults in full time employment. It’s at 16% I believe for full time and 32% for some sort of work.
Now my position is rare, because most people if not all, wont get into a job without normal recruitment methods, therefore no argument and if you fail a recruitment, you are usually not in the job role therefore it’s hard to do anything. I am in the job role, I was the best in the office over achieving and yet I can’t pass an interview. If I can’t pass an interview when I’m doing the exact job, how on Earth is someone else with the same diagnosis expected to?
I believe this is a real opportunity here to prove interviewing and autism just doesn’t work. Does anyone have any opinions, legal knowledge or is their any organisations that would consider this a landmark they are willing to assist with?
I ask if you can identify the organisation, don’t post them as it could potentially impact
I should probably mention that I am already legally represented, I’ve also self taught myself Law and I seem to be a natural at it so I am starting University in September. The discrimination Ect I already know how to win. The post is more regarding the precedent that has the potential to be set, one that can benefit the whole community. I’m just wondering if I have to do something to else besides win, because whilst they may rule that no reasonable adjustments were placed and rule it was discrimination, the rare position I am in is something I think I need to elaborate on to prove that it doesn’t matter if someone with autism is in the job or not, the interview itself is not suitable, this can be backed up by statistics and my overachieving. This is the bit I feel needs some help with because I am not sure how to set this precedent
For the setting of a precedent in case law it is usually enough to win. That said, with ET case law, most representation relies upon the result of the losing side appealing and the result of the appeal, as heard before the EAT, is taken as the precedent.
One prime example of this is Schultz v Esso Petroleum where Esso tried to claim that the case should be dismissed as out of time (pursuant to ERA (1991) s119) as Schultz had filed later than the mandatory 3 month limit. However, Schultz's defence was that it was not "reasonably practicable" for him to file earlier by means of depression (evidenced). The ET judge (EJ) agreed with Schultz so Esso went to the EAT. The EAT dismissed the appeal holding with the judgement of the original EJ.
In many subsequent cases, it is the judgement handed down by the EAT that is referenced rather than the original case.
For your case I would just caution that you may be in for a much longer fight than you originally bargained for.