Employer's recognition and responsibilities?

An employer has responsibilities to employees but they cannot be held responsible for identifying a condition, such as autism, in their staff. They must, however, not discriminate against anyone who has or appears to have problems due to a disability. (Equality Act).

Employers actually should not try and identify conditions like autism as this is outside of their expertise and pinning labels on people without being able to back it up would be wrong.

If performance appears to be affected by a health issue then they are entitled to get an asessment by an occupational health provider who may identify an issue and may also identify whether the issue prevents effective performance in a role. Employers are required to provide occupational health schemes mainly as they have a duty to identify health issues such as stress that might be caused by working conditions. An OH doctor may deem that the health problem will prevent reasonable performance (e.g. if dexterity is required in a role then dyspraxia may effecively bar you from successfully performing the role).There is lots to read about OH try www.hse.gov.uk/.../employers.htm for starters

The OH doctor may deem that you have a disability and that "Reasonable Adjustments" are required. In this case the employer must provide any reasonable adjustments suggested by OH and the person will gain protection from dismissal unless and until all reasonable adjustments have been provided.

At the end of the day, you still may not be able to perform at the required level but this is difficult to prove unless they can compare your performance with colleagues and it is clear that you are not keeping up. If there are no comparable colleagues then would easily ead to a dispute about what is reasonable to expect.

Employees also have responsbilities to make efforts to maintain their own health and to try and make themselves available for work in a healthy condition. It is not the employers responsibility to sort out problems such as alcoholism. Sickness can be a valid reason for dismissal in certain circumstances.

So my questions would be, did they suspect a health issue and did they refer you to occupational health?

I've been round the loop of OH and disputes with employers. It isn't fun but the OH doctors I have met have been professional and understanding and did point out to an employer that I was protected under the Equality Act. Sometimes though you may have to accept that the situation is beyond repair and that the best solution is to move on and try and learn from the past and make the next job more bearable. I've just decided this for myself after 10months of trying to make a job work - I have decided that the culture in the organisation isn't going to work for me or them so I am moving on.

An employer has responsibilities to employees but they cannot be held responsible for identifying a condition, such as autism, in their staff. They must, however, not discriminate against anyone who has or appears to have problems due to a disability. (Equality Act).

Employers actually should not try and identify conditions like autism as this is outside of their expertise and pinning labels on people without being able to back it up would be wrong.

If performance appears to be affected by a health issue then they are entitled to get an asessment by an occupational health provider who may identify an issue and may also identify whether the issue prevents effective performance in a role. Employers are required to provide occupational health schemes mainly as they have a duty to identify health issues such as stress that might be caused by working conditions. An OH doctor may deem that the health problem will prevent reasonable performance (e.g. if dexterity is required in a role then dyspraxia may effecively bar you from successfully performing the role).There is lots to read about OH try www.hse.gov.uk/.../employers.htm for starters

The OH doctor may deem that you have a disability and that "Reasonable Adjustments" are required. In this case the employer must provide any reasonable adjustments suggested by OH and the person will gain protection from dismissal unless and until all reasonable adjustments have been provided.

At the end of the day, you still may not be able to perform at the required level but this is difficult to prove unless they can compare your performance with colleagues and it is clear that you are not keeping up. If there are no comparable colleagues then would easily ead to a dispute about what is reasonable to expect.

Employees also have responsbilities to make efforts to maintain their own health and to try and make themselves available for work in a healthy condition. It is not the employers responsibility to sort out problems such as alcoholism. Sickness can be a valid reason for dismissal in certain circumstances.

So my questions would be, did they suspect a health issue and did they refer you to occupational health?

I've been round the loop of OH and disputes with employers. It isn't fun but the OH doctors I have met have been professional and understanding and did point out to an employer that I was protected under the Equality Act. Sometimes though you may have to accept that the situation is beyond repair and that the best solution is to move on and try and learn from the past and make the next job more bearable. I've just decided this for myself after 10months of trying to make a job work - I have decided that the culture in the organisation isn't going to work for me or them so I am moving on.