Help or advice for a workplace disciplinary

Hi and welcome to the community.

You might find the advice in these resources helpful:

Citizens Advice - Dealing with disciplinary action at work

Which also includes links to further articles on:

• Preparing for a disciplinary or dismissal meeting
• Where to start
• Who can accompany you to a disciplinary meeting
• Appealing against disciplinary action

NAS - What can I do if I’m having trouble at work?

• Autism, discrimination and UK employment law
• Conflict, bullying and harassment
• What can I do if my employer thinks I’m not able to do my job?
• Dismissal from your job (being sacked)
• Links, resources and article sources

ACAS - Disciplinary and grievance procedures

LexTalionis said:

what is PIP please?

PIP stands for Personal Improvement Plan - essentially a set of criteria you have to achieve over a probation period in order to demonstrate you are still able to perform your job to the required standard.

Previous performance does not relate here as it is all about how you perform now.

With all the stuff going on in your personal life now I do strongly recommend a therapist - they worked wonders for me.

Also, thank you for the reply 

Also what is PIP please? My counsellor is attending with me who specialises in ASD and ADHD, will that help to explain my case?

Just to clarify, we had 2 weeks holiday that's why I didn't say anything before, my relationship was inthe toilet and I was panicking about spending 2 weeks with my partner amongst a myriad of other problems 

LexTalionis said:

I left, we had 2 weeks off then when I came back I was asked if I'd left early that day and I admitted I did

In practical terms you should have notified them within the same day or the next working day, but given the circumstances it is understandable to us why you didn't.

If you left it 2 weeks before pointing it out then it does look to them like you were hiding it in their eyes. In your shoes I would apologise and point out that it was your disability that was preventing you from being able to notify them sooner.

Looking at this from the company point of view, they now see you as being potentially unreliable, able to fail at a moments notice and be out for several weeks without contacting them - this is not a behaviour they will want to tolerate if they can.

This is just to manage your expectations of what is to come - you are starting to look like a liability to them so interactions need to be carefully considered in future.

My approach in your situation would be to go heavy on the disability aspect wih your lawyer present in the disciplinary meeting (check this is allowed before doing it of course) and thank the company for their support so far, and say "I hope I can continue providing the level of results I have done for the last 7 years" to remind them of your clean history.

So long as the meeting is not combative but respectful and apologetic then it should calm tempers and make them take your seriously (largely thanks to the lawyer being there) and you can work out a way to deal with things in future with maybe a PIP in place to give them a sense of "that'll teach you" petty vengence.

They will think twice about taking it further as you are not an easy target now and they know you are likely to make an effective legal case against them if they just sack you.

Your biggest challenge in getting your own mental health under control to avoid a repeat so I strongly recommend you engage with a psychotherapist with lots of autism experience and get to grips with whatever is causing the meltdowns at a minimum.

It is well documented thatvi have these conditions at work, and the whole matter stems from me leaving work without informing anyone, i had a fight or flight moment during what felt like the start of burnout and I left, we had 2 weeks off then when I came back I was asked if I'd left early that day and I admitted I did and gave my reasons, they paid me after I admitted I wasn't there after 13:30, I finish at 3 so it was only an hour and a half, I didn't do it to be deceitful or cause harm or breach of trust it was an extreme response to an overwhelming situation totally out of character and up to that point I had a good record within the company 

LexTalionis said:

I have a disciplinary for gross misconduct coming up at work, I left work 2 hours early and didn't inform anyone

This in itself is not such a big deal unless in doing so you endangered others (eg if you were the "spotter" for incoming trains for a rail track repair team) or if you caused the company to suffer a significant loss (eg they lost a multi milion pound contract because you missed a deadline).

I assume you notified your manager as soon as you could - if you didn't then it is going to look like you were trying to hide it which makes it harder to defend. If you did thell them then it is their resposibility to amend your attendance record and adjust pay accordingly, so this could explain the 2nd and 3rd charges.

I would make sure you have the record of contacting your boss to back up your case.

Did you notify your employer that you are autistic? This would cover you to a degree for the situaiton as you can claim it is a known aspect of the condition.

I see only 2 practical approaches for you here - one is to apologise profusely, point out your perfect record and ask for mercy. The other is to lawyer up and defend youself with them as your representative in disciplinary meetings. This can be done on a video or audio confetence.

The lawyer / solicitor approach will be expensive and if you didn't notifyy your manager of your early finish or advice the company of your autism then you will be at a disadvantage already.

I would also check the company handbook about disciplinary processes and understand the details on how these processes work so you are educated going into it and can have all the defence you can muster.

From their reaction to this (ie attacking rather than being supportive) I get the feeling they want you gone so I would already be looking for another job to get ahead of the curve. Keep all communications between you in case you decide to sue but expect the worst while hoping for the best.

I think I managed to avoid making explicit legal advice here because that is forbidden by the NAS rules, but hopefully it has been of use.

Good luck