Work

Excellent advice as always Iain

NAS96523 said:

I been in my job 22 years and just been put to a disciplinary first time ever

Can you share the general nature of why you are on a disciplinary notice? This typically requires you to have broken a specific rule or experienced significantly degraded performance.

I'm with Mr T in advising you give HR a redacted copy of your diagnosis - you can do this easily with a trial copy of something like Adobe Acrobat on your home computer. It needs to clearly show you have an autism diagnosis and anything else can be reasonably hidden as it is not relevant to your relationship with your employers.

On the subject of HR - don't think they are there to help you. Their job is to protect the company so they will always look after the management unless the risk of doing so is greater than the harm it would cause the company. Treat them with caution.

A union is a better option - if you are not already in one then join now.

NAS96523 said:

some of the things I do annoying

You know this so learn to stop doing them. It can be seen as purposefully annoying your colleagues so work on it. If you struggle to do this then I recommend seeing a therapist who can work through techniques to do this - you should be able to do this with practice.

I'm sure some may think you should be able to be authentic and keep doing these things, but it is only common decency to consider those who you impact. Just because you are autistic does not give you a right to be intrusive to others when you are capable to controlling it.

At the end of the day, once your boss latches onto that fact that you are autistic then it is often only a matter of time until they make you want to leave by subtly making work less and less pleasant for you. This way there is no liability on their part and no payout when you go and they get to hire a "better fit" for the team.

Keep all interactions in electronic format (eg write up minutes of any meetings or ask to record them) and keep copies sent to your personal email address. Make sure all requests and decisions are clearly defined  - use SMART (specific, measured, achievable, realistic and time constrained) for any measures they want and detail it all by email, including follow ups by the dates agreed.

This will make them realise you are keeping a close eye on them and have material enough to sue them if they don't keep up their end of the bargain.

Also find the contact of an employment solicitor so you can reach out to them if it all looks like it is turning sour - few things focus the company like the potential of a law suit.

Plan for the worst and hope for the best - that will help I think.

As Mr T has said, you've got a lot of protections now you've been formally diagnosed.  These protections are under the Equality Act 2010 - read a bit more here -> https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/mental-health/seeking-help/asking-for-reasonable-adjustments

I wanted to pick up the part about the autism assessment.  Your employer is not entitled to this at all, your boss should not ask for the assessment as they have no reasonable reason to see it.  What you might need to provide is a confirmation of your diagnosis by the organisation that did it.  I had to go private for my assessment but I was provided with both the full assessment detailing my diagnosis and a short letter signed by the senior psychologist stating that I "met the criteria for Autism under DSM" etc.  The short letter is what I use if I have to prove my diagnosis, so that's what my employer got, not the full assessment.

Don’t show him anything, he shouldn’t even be asking!!!

If you have a HR department or a union go there. For immediate advice try https://www.acas.org.uk/ you can call them now.

I understand, I was hounded out of my teaching job because they were “worried about my behaviour” and I’d stupidly overshared outside work to someone I thought was a friend but things got gossiped about and twisted. I learnt a valuable lesson that I had no friends there only colleagues and people with agendas.

In the end I got a small pay out which paid for a solicitor and living expenses while I found a new job, a reference after 6 months on suspension and I’m not allowed to tell the world the details. You need legal advice. 

Sending you strength, 

Blip

Hi

Being on a disciplinary will depend on what it is for. But it would be very dangerous for your employer to do this this considering your diagnosis. If the events can be explained by your ASD this would be, under the equality act 2010, illegal in my opinion. They must consider what reasonable adjustments would help not only in this situation but your working life as a whole.

Do you have an HR or occupational health department? If so you could share a copy with them and ask for it not to be disclosed except the diagnosis with your manager.

My experience is that I ask for help and shared a redacted diagnosis letter but have found out that instead of support my manager is using stereotypical bias deeming all my support requests as unreasonable and pushing redeployment from my role which I have been doing in various forms for over thirty years. I am still fighting along with my union as I have been advised to go through the process before we consider a tribunal.

My advice speak to a union or an employment lawyer. get everything in writing.

Sorry can't help much without knowing your full situation.