Published on 12, July, 2020
Has anyone gone through one of these recently?
I am terrified the judge is just going to side with my employer who literally made me feel like some worthless crazy autistic person who wasn't worthy of working with children. I know of cases that ruled in favour of the bipolar person, but does society view bipolar equal to autism?
My employer was a school. My actions constituting gross misconduct were supporting autistic kids to understand and like themselves and find better ways of coping in school.
My employer also recently allowed boys to wear skirts when it was hot and called it "gender neutral". No one is allowed to wear shorts. Skirts or trousers for everyone.
Laura
it’s okay if you don’t want to say..but why does the school say you did at work to constitute “gross misconduct”?
used emojis such as heart and smiley face and worked outside of school hours to support my autistic students.... during covid when everyone was working flexibly....
Yup I kept saying my line manager was acting in gross misconduct because this thing I did I had been doing for months and TOLD THEM ABOUT IT. They didn't like that, so I'm claiming victimisation on the basis that they harassed me to get me out rather than dealt with their own leadership issues. All of their emails are signed off as "receiving this outside of working hours? No need to reply, I'm just working flexibly!" Like they're allowed to work flexibly but I'm not allowed to provide extra-curricular support to vulnerable children coping with schedule change during COVID????
Yes! Which I told them! They accused me of "making friends with vulnerable children" and making up my diagnosis because I was self-identified at that point. I mean seriously they made me feel like an actual child abuser, it's grotesque to imagine myself on this Children's Barred List alongside convicted criminals just because my employers are small-minded and couldn't accommodate my autistic tendency to hyperfocus and just get the job done the best I could! Why should I feel shame about this?!
Boy. Bless you. I'm struggling to see what their problem is. Emojis might be easier for some kids on the spectrum to understand and all school staff work outside their hours. It's called dedication. Have they interpreted that as having some other motive?
They need a word with themselves. The most that should have happened there is a quiet word in your ear about how others might misinterpret your actions.