Published on 12, July, 2020
I was assaulted and verbally abused at work last week. I contacted my supervisor and communicated I was struggling with Autistic meltdown as a consequence. I was given permission to go home. A supervisor got another staff member to complete my jobs that day.
The supervisor told the other staff member I'd had a nervous breakdown and gone AWOL. This was then passed on to members of the public who are my customers.
I think this is breach of trust, defamatory, and discriminatory use of language about autism. Police informed about the assault. Union informed about the work stuff.
The only reason I discovered this was an abjectly humiliating conversation with a customer on the Monday, who was surprised to see me, as the customer had been informed of my "nervous breakdown / AWOL / incommunicado," and was very concerned for my welfare.
My manager has refused to tell me which supervisor and which other staff member said these things to my customers. Now I'm unable to trust ANY of the supervisors/staff. I have instead received an aggressive email from my manager because I wanted to know who the culprits are.
Reflections on this situation?
Despite the two customers confirming via a written statement and in a phone call from my company HR that they were told Id gone AWOL and had a breakdown, the manager has decided that what the customers said is untrue, because the colleague denies having said it.
So there we have it. My company allows degrading treatment of ASD staff as it is easier than taking any action regarding discrimination.