The Department of Work & Pensions

peter0003 said:

Dear All,

           I am here again asking for advise, the Department of Work & Pension have recorded that I have been claiming benefit for 2 years and being unemployed for time.  And are now trying to get rid of me by asking me to sign on each day of the week at one part of the day, everyday ie 11.10am which is a pain as i would like to do voluntary work at the sametime.

Don't lie on your CV.

If you do and they find out, then you will, most probably, get the sack.

What you can, however, do is simply not tell the whole truth.

If you have been diagnosed with an ASD, I would, however, mention that on your CV - employers can not discriminate against you on those grounds, and, if a prospective employer asks, in an interview, why you were dismissed from Jessops then you can simply state something like "Because of my Autism I can be very honest, which some take as rudeness, and this lead to my dismissal from that job".

A decent employer will take that honesty as a good sign, and a positive quality.

An employer that doesn't see it that way is, I would suggest, not an employer you should be wishing to work for.

Over detailed background information and fixation points of Autism, open as a book, struggle to know what information is relevent or not. Too honest for your own good, like me.

quote" gross misconduct"... is a social construct of rejection and the purpose of a CV or application is too discount people from the job by self declaration of not suitable. So if you put that on the form, you have no chance of getting the job. How about this, more likely, YOU DIDN'T get fired for gross misconduct, you were made redundant because they were cutting costs in the recession probably, that was just excuse to cut there pay role. Don't take there view, there *** literally, there could be other reasons for the making you redundant, not fired, not sacked,, REDUNDANT. it happens to thousands of people each day, redundancy is quite normal for being in employment. You have to stop giving yourself a hardtime or labelling the situation as gross misconduct.

If anything, tell them all the jobs you had where absolutely brilliant ! HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY ! Don't put to much detail down on the form or CV, just mirror what they are looking for, you are an excellent worker etc etc bullshite, bullshite, etc.. Basically application forms and CV are there to trip you up by candidate comparison discounting people by looking for NEGATIVES ON THERE APPLICATION OR CV. I go on here, but keep it brief, clear and professional.

Remember Happy, Happy HAPPY !

Although I have a vague recollection that there might be a law prohibiting them saying anything derogatory/defamatory about you

Yes there is. Can't think right now what it comes under.

I think they can find out if you were sacked due to gross misconduct.

nd the other main season was that I was honest and told them that believed that I maybe suffing from ASD & they" being HR dept: of jessops photo centre"   didn't want somone like me working for them.   All of my family & friends have told me not to mention any of this to the new employers but as I'm not doing so, it  is not getting me employed. 

This is illegal. If they can't make reasonable adjustments, the job is unsuitable for you, etc. it's not discrimination, therefore, legal. But they can't sack you just because you have an ASD diagnosis.

...just to add, that if what you say is true about the HR department wanting rid of you because you disclosed you believed you had an ASD, then they may have feared you would get a diagnosis and they would be unable to sack you in that case so they did it before you had the chance.  This backs up what I say about the Equality Act, they have to be a lot more careful if someone has a legal disability.

I'm not sure you can avoid being honest because prospective employers write for references to past employers.  Although I have a vague recollection that there might be a law prohibiting them saying anything derogatory/defamatory about you they decline to give a reference which prospective employers then know means you got sacked even if they didn't spell it out.

You say you have been working casually for the car parking company, presumably you have been declaring that income to DWP as otherwise they will treat that as fraud.

I would also be very careful as you are giving a lot of information away online and it might be pretty easy for interested parties to calculate who you are.

Perhaps if you apply for jobs that don't involve you working with members of the public and you disclose your diagnosis they will be more accepting.  Althought they might be concerned about you being rude to colleagues, and as we know, not fitting in with the tribe is very unappealing.

One thing I do want to ask, is do you accept that you were rude to the customer (and I don't mean with hindsight) or could it have been a case of you being blunt Aspie-style without meaning offence and they just didn't like it?  It makes a lot of difference, particularly with a diagnosis, because they cannot discriminate against you by law.  The Equality Act 2010 says so.

If you don't have a diagnosis, now is the time to get one.