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Discrimination at work

TamTam1987

Hi, 

I have been working with the company (a nursery) for over 8 years now and I absolutely love my job. I have high functioning autism, I wasn’t diagnosed until my early 20’s and it effects very little of my day to day life at work as work is a role, I can do that. (It’s hard to explain). Anyways throughout my career I have had to prove myself and work harder than anyone else (partly because I suffered from depression and anxiety early on in my career but I haven’t suffered from this for about 6 years). It took me longer to get a senior position and I was told that they had pushed me harder than anyone else because they needed to see that I would not break and could handle it. I didn’t think this was overly fair but I accepted it. Well I have been working towards a management position for the past two/three years but recently was told that I will never get the position because they do not think that I can handle the tricky situations with team/ parents etc. I do not believe this to be true. They said they have given me opportunities to show this but I deal with staff and parents all the time and have never had a problem. How can they know I cannot do the position if they will not let me try it? I would even be happy to do a trial basis to prove myself. I feel like I am being discriminated against but don’t know what to do? Any help and support would be very much appreciated. 

  • If you go on the Acas website and look for a pdf document called discrimination in the workplace I believe. It’s about 52 pages.  There’s examples in there of discrimination and I’m sure one is if your employer makes a judgment on your capabilities due to a disability.  In this case it’s their perception of your capability which you believe to be wrong, which is discrimination.  It’s definitely worth phoning Acas.  Some of their advisors are brilliant, and some not so.  They will probably advise you to raise a formal grievance through your company’s internal grievance process.  Which you will need to do before you can go to an employment tribunal.  It sounds like you have a good case though. 

  • yeah,  one of my cousins went through this situation. he was in college when we found out that he has an autistic problem. then he was criticized by his fellow students and even lecturers. after that, he drops out the college and starts to pursue his further studies through online. now he is doing Site Manager Course online and  he is doing well

  • Hi, TamTam. It does sound like your employers are being really unfair, especially since you've proven your ability to do the job. I agree that going to ACAS would be a good start to make sure you get the right advice.

  • I had a similar thing - being used, promised lots of things, given goals to achieve - and when I met and exceeded every challenge, they  just moved the goalposts again.   Either your face fits - or it doesn't.

  • I've had similar. I worked in a well known budget supermarket (not lidl) I had a small child but theyd get me working 12 hour shifts 4 to 5 days a week. I was in my early 20s and struggled saying no. They promised promotion to assistant mmanager so my workload as deputy manager increased. I even worked night shifts for 7 nights and my son went to his grandparents which I wasent happy about but I couldnt say no back then. They basically used me as the job they shook hands on they gave away after I'd worked all the hours for them the hours no one wanted. The job I was promised I was told I couldnt handle yet I'd excelled at.  I'm still traumatised by the events back then as that's a quick summary not the horrific details. I believe they had no intention of promoting me. Just used me

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    The ACAS helpline provide excellent advice in regards to disability discrimination in the workplace and how to handle these situations. 

    It sounds like your face doesn't fit and you'd be better off moving to another nursery who are more open-minded and value your skills. I've worked at some employees like this, as well as others who adopted the attitude that you might not be ready yet but if you were keen they'd give you the training/mentoring you needed to get to where you wanted to be.