Employement terminated because of my autism

Invisible_me said:

what your saying though  it makes me thibk i don't stand a chance even if actually what they have done is wrong.  

I suspect this is the case - I do not know but I wanted you to understand it so you can be prepared for what is probably an unfair outcome (but probably legal-ish).

On two occasions when I was a manager I had a new hire who had undisclosed medical conditions that led them to have a lot of absence during probation. On both those occasions I was ordered by my manager (verbally) to performance manage them out of the company using the probation process.

The first one the girl was bipolar and in spite of supporting her through this as best I could she could not bring herself to want to return.

The second was a more serious medical condition, a genetic one resulting in chronic pain which would eventually need spinal surgery. I ended up making a stand on this and standing up against my manager as I had hired them because I thought they were a good fit for the team and had all the skills we needed.

This second case caused a lot of tension between me and my boss as he hated having his authority questioned but my stubborness (and probably some oppositional defiance disorder) meant I was not going to just submit.

This did a lot of damage to my career potential in that company as my performance evaluations suddenly dropped from exceptional to acceptable and my workload jumped significantly. I can't imagine what casued that...

Anyway, the point of this ramble is that while your supervisor may be supportive, it is often the middle management who are pulling the strings hard behind the scenes, leaving no paper trail to pin it on them.

I would make sure you gather all your evidence to keep at home, keep all communication about this process or about performance in writing and make contact with an employment law legal specialist to assess your potential for a case.

Expect the worst but hope for the best.

Good luck.

Unknown said:

Deep down, I don’t think they really care and will look for ways to replace you with someone easier to manage

A business, at least in the private sector, doesn't really care. Unless it is a charity, it is not there to do some social good, it is there to make money. 

Each person is there to do a job, that's it. It costs time, money and effort to recruit people. So as long as you do the job ok and don't reduce the functioning of the rest of the team, you're fine.

The more specific your skills and the harder you are to replace the more leeway you're given, up to a point.

If changes allow you to be more productive than other people and make more money, you can often have them. If I want 3 monitors and to come in late, it's fine because it makes more money and I do stuff other people can't.

The vast majority of people really dislike letting people go. It is not nice. So people try to be careful in the recruitment process. If you can get an interview which is hard, and then a job which is harder still, you are over most of the discrimination hurdles.

As the economy gets harder and the private sector gets squeezed, the room for leeway gets squeezed too, unless you are fortunate and in a company making lots of profit. But even there, there is pressure.

Goals or targets for diversity, in age, gender, background, etc. don't carry much weight if they cost money. 

It is all just economics.

Perhaps I'm stating the obvious, but sometimes people lose track of it.

The drivers in the public sector, where there are also more unions, which can be good and bad, seem to be different.

ACAS is your answer - you say you haven’t managed to contact them again yet, may I suggest this is your priority focus? No one here on the forum will give you legal counsel, only ACAS can trigger conciliation and tribunal hearings, they are you ally here and can answer your question of “where do I stand”. This is a difficult read and also the reason I don’t think I’ll ever disclose autism for a future employer. Deep down, I don’t think they really care and will look for ways to replace you with someone easier to manage. My life has become more difficult since disclosing and was actually easier to mask in previous companies, using holidays and sick to breaks when absolutely needed. 

 Best of luck - get back on with ACAS as you may be entitled to unfair dismissal claim seeing as it was so obvious as to why, you have it in writing. I’m surprised an employer would write such things unless they have other reasons or avenues they have explored with you already and feel confident saying such words knowing this may end up at tribunal. They maybe don’t think you’ll pursue such a claim. Prove them wrong. 

Thank you for clarifying.  Yes i suspect they are trying to manage me out which isn't right.- but that impression is service manager and HR. My line-manager has actually been quite supportive and wanting to give me the extra time on probation but his off sick so it made the game easier for hr and service manager. 

Those 4 weeks absence- equates to actually 4 shifts but all these were actually pre-booked leave. During which I experienced work related burnout from masking and no adjustments. So once I returned  adjustments were put in place.  Went to re-shadowing and then independent delivery. 

Actual absence after has been 3 shifts out of  24- 1 vomiting,  2- sensory overload (on day). 

At moment I'm just doing internal appeal.  By what your saying though  it makes me thibk i don't stand a chance even if actually what they have done is wrong.  

Half of my arguemnt is nothing was told to me before which doesn't allow for improvement. And a lot of areas of underperformance are on reliability eg:, will i be ready to start straight away because I need regulation time (which is a reasonable adjustment), 

Invisible_me said:

What do you mean by HR have retainters?

It helps to understand that HR are not there to help you - their job is to protect the company though interacting with you and making sure the appropriate laws are followed to prevent lawsuits.

The legal experts on retainer are common in smaller companies where there is no legal department - these are effectively employment law specialists that approve contracts and are used when potentially litigious situations arise - to protect the company.

Invisible_me said:

it was extended because in may I had 4 weeks off due to stress.

This will be the root of your problems with them. This sort of absence in probation is a huge red flag for an employer as it is an indication that you are likely to have attendance issues also in future and will be seen as a liability waiting to happen for the company.

When you are off sick they have to cover your position which either affects your colleagues or costs the company to hire a temp. Where there is a risk of recurrance (perception is that autists are high risk of recurring stress reated sick leave) then HR and your management will probably by having quiet discussions off the record on how to "manage you out" which is what has happened here.

They will most likely have done it by the letter of the law making it hard to win a lawsuit, or at least make it costly for you.

In your situation I would gather all your evidence, speak to a no-win-no-fee employment law solicitor and see if they think you have a case.

Depending on the evidence it may work - there are enough grey areas to make it possible but from what I know of these cases, the chances are not great. Let the legal experts advise you on this.

Good luck

 What do you mean by HR have retainters?

Who for legal advice.  Im not with union. I dont have anyone. 

I don't have house insurance in my name. Live with parents.  

Hello Iain 

Its nice to know from the other side... in response:

- the adjustments when implemented were helpful however these were not always consistent some operational some was dependent on what manager was on shift. Towards the beginning of adjustments implemented there were times when i felt my manager was trying to push the boundaries to see how id react so he'd turn the volume up, flickering lights switches. 

Access to work was only approved in November. So this was like month before termination. This allowed me taxi allowance so no more buses which caused stress. Also no meeting held before to say adjustments not practical anymore.

- okay so it was extended because in may I had 4 weeks off due to stress. I went bavk in phased with adjustments (this is when they were implemented) and had to go bavk to shadowing shifts. So at point of 6month review I'd only just restarted doing sessions on own. He also felt I needed to grow in confidence and communicate to him, team more.  Since then,  ive done sessions independently and to me consistently but to them it isn't (the word consistently is open to interpretation), im communicating to him a lot more now that rapport is built. 

- okay so service manager called me she said, cant pass a not safeguarding referral,  but this is entirely dependent on what sessions i have through.  I haven't had that need. I understand process and my manager pointed out if this understood he let's it slide. Other things listed was: "you seem anxious on coming in,  more so now- I reassured her not so". " managers anxious around you as thry dont know how you will be,  if they can give you workload, feel unsure how to support you". While your manager has tried to support, we cannot guarantee he will always have the capacity. You have autism and our environment can be difficult for those without autism.  Is this appropriate? Thing is all my otger jobs are widely similar to, which they don't recognise and ive made huge progress. 

- no the reasonable adjustments are things like extra regulation time, pre identified desk, space to regulate,  allowance of flexible shift time. 

# my termination meeting was held without my line-manager due to sickness. 

# middle October we moved base and that meant the adjustments of allocated workplace,  where to go weren't identified and my anxiety was higher so needed bit more regulation time.  But service running wasn't impacted as it was a quiter day.

Im not sure where I stand??, if I stand a chance?? It doesn't feel fair, feels premature but its their policy. 

Iain said:

I know HR teams have legal experts on retainers to work on these sorts of cases so you need to have your own legal representative to chase it and the above info will need to be reviewed by them.

...which you may have if you have home/car insurance. Car insurance tends to just cover motoring related legal cover. House insurance might cover employment, presumably because it's in their interests that you are still able to pay a mortgage. 

This sucks - I can offer some advice from someone who has been on the management side of this equation before that may help you put things in context:

Invisible_me said:

Adjustments put in place in may,  since then its not always been consistent. Occ health was requested in October,  report received in end november (not done a shift since them receiving report.

It sounds like they made an attempt to put reasonable adjustments in place - can you explain if these worked, were withdrawn or if they were not enough to make  difference for you. The fact OH were involved shows the management were taking steps to help or at least to make it look this way.

Invisible_me said:

No performance concerns were raised with me

Why did they extend probation? They normally need to detail a reason for this which would qualify as a concern.

Invisible_me said:

service manager phoned me in beg November to say i cannot pass probation because I hadn't completed an external referral

This sounds like the smoking gun they can use to justify letting you go If this is the case then you will get nowhere with a discrimination case. I would ask HR to provide the company policies around this to help you and your legal team to understand if it is really the case.

With the application of "reasonable adjustments" it can be quite hard to prove if they are "reasonable" or not - for examle if you worked in a call centre and you asked to not to have to answer the phone the this is not reasonable. Most situations can be argued in different ways to establishing the reasonableness of it needs a detailed understanding of the role and what they offered / withdrew.

I know HR teams have legal experts on retainers to work on these sorts of cases so you need to have your own legal representative to chase it and the above info will need to be reviewed by them. We lack the detail to give a clearer opinion I'm afraid.

Good luck if you decide to persue a claim.

Literally 

Hi Phased 

I did like the job yes! Once id settled in like got used to the team, my mamager and felt better supported. Yes i had enjoyed my time there... its just a shame they didn't recognise this. It feels sad 

Honestly finding another job... ive lost faith...

recognise that it's flipping hard to self advocate - like saying to someone who is in a wheelchair they need to build their own access ramp to get past the stairs!

maybe get some intermediary support to articulate your needs Invisible_me 

I would like to ask a couple of questions please

Do you like the job Invisible_me ?

How possible is it for you to find another one?

I have come across a remarkably similar situation albeit after being employed for 25 years by the same organisation (only latterly as being known to be autistic).

Hard tho' it is I am spending energy on finding a way to get a job where I might be happier in.

Yes this is unfair, yes I am being discriminated against, yes the whole issue is that the employer is in the "wrong" (and I'll do my best to help them understand that)  ... ...

However no matter how hard I try to change me in my current setting I'm a round peg in a square hole and that square hole doesn't want to change.

I am doing my utmost to leverage law, common sense and human decency and still...

Acknowledging the difficulties to get another job and got thro' the stress etc. of all that involves it might be worth your keeping an eye out for that possibility.

If you go somewhere else - their loss not yours...

Thank you for your reply. 

I seeked advice from ACAS jut before yhe meeting they advised tht they really should and can extend probation to allow for things. Ive not managed to contact them yet though. Will do! 

 Mr T LonelyColour  yep in the letter theyve actually stated " because of your autism it cannot be confirmed your ability to do this consistently""because of your autism, factors such as your commute to work can vary making it difficult to assess your reliability ", "because of your autism it cannot be guaranteed that you'll continue making progress". "I acknowledge a condition such as autism has significant impact on your daily ability to carry out the role however despite feedback, support and adjustments you've failed to meet the minimum requirements"...

However no feedback given, supoort and adjustments been inconsistent. Also my access to work grant has only come through end Oct so that has made my travel to worke easier and thats not been considered

It also says "you syruggle to articulate yourself which makes finding solutions difficult",I have my own communication needs.

Its supposed to be an organisation that supports autism! 

Sorry to hear this. For me if they have said this in writing it is evidence of discrimination under the equality act. I would contact ACAS , union (if have one) and look online for a disability lawyer (not cheap).

It is a terrible situation and not too dissimilar to my own situation which, is subject to an employment tribunal.

Wish you luck

If you were fired while still in your probationary period you will have less rights than a permanent employee.  This may change with the new employment rights act.  I suggest you seek legal advice.

I also think the language on it own could be discriminatory - regardless of the legality of their position - I think there was an employment tribunal case in the news this week when language alone was considered discriminatory

Compile evidence - timeline on conversations and preferably copies of the written communication and copies of the reasonable adjustments and occupational report.  

Then as other said - make sure get some advice from ACAS, or union if you're a member - with this evidence you've collated

I recommend you don't leave any reviews of the company - or use social media or say anything negative , at this stage.

Good Luck - & keep us posted 

This is awful, and at others have said illegal. I've heard of being pushed out but to say it like that is discrimination, you are right to call it that. Please get some advice the others have been l mentioned, it should not have happened to you.

Surely that's illegal!

Did they write that? Is there a written record that says "because of your autism"? This is very very illegal, and you should take them to an employment tribunal. They should re-hire you or pay you compensation. I'm pretty sure they should be fined ot there will be consequences for them as a business.

Consult with Acas, they have a help line that you could call.

I am really sorry this has happened to you

Your best option is probably to get in touch with ACAS: https://www.acas.org.uk/advice

Explain the situation to them as best you can. They'll let you know what options you have.

Another option which doesn't really help you but might help others, is to leave a review on glassdoor: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Community/index.htm

Probably best not to put anything on glassdoor while any disputes are ongoing though.