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Employement terminated because of my autism

Invisible_me

Hi, 

So i made a post aboit a month ago on this job. In short though,  I reached the end of my probation period and they terminated my employment because of my autism,  the meeting and letter blatantly says "due to your autism it can not be confirmed you can meet tgis target consistently", "while you have made progress due to your autism it cannot be confirmed that you will continue to make progress." " Despite the feedback support and adjustments you have failed to meet the essential criteria of the job. ".

New performance concerns are raised on letter which wasn't even mentioned in the meeting.  

However:

  • I started job december/jan. Probation extended in August till november as a manager discretion what all employees entitled to. 
  • 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.
  • No performance concerns were raised with me, in September supervision I was praised and he said theres no reason not to pass.  No supervision since but all other informal conversations have been positive. I had made significant progress since August.and continued on,  i felt happier and enjoyed the work this was praised, recognised multiple times.  .   
  • Due to a upsetting incident at work,  I had an absence,  service manager phoned me in beg November to say i cannot pass probation because I hadn't completed an external referral (completing this cannot be guaranteed due to unpredictable nature of work, my manager said as long as I understand process its fine. They were goung to ask if I can have longer probation.  HR said depending on occupational health report.  They received this hr said no.
  • Invited to firms meeting this week where I was informed of termination for above given reasons.  

In the meeting i raised the inconsistent in adjustments she said the adjustments are no longer reasonable or practical for the service- no discussion was had with me prior stating this.  In conversation id had expressing me feeling bad for needing these adjustments,  ive always been reassured that if o need it to help its absolutely fine and shouldn't feel bad, that they are therr to supprt me.  

Where do I stand?- I feel theyve discriminated against my autism.  Ivd made lots of progress and thvr just used autism as an excuse to say theres no guarantee ill continue making progress. They've also used me struggling to communicate against me- ive really started building a rapport with my manager and communicating to him even uf it is via email ad well as face to face.  I wanted to stay!  

Parents

  • 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. 

Reply

  • 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. 

Children
  • in reply to JB33
    JB33 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.