Nice to meet you

Thanks so much for your advice- I think it would be worthwhile pursuing compensation but my friend always forsees difficulties ahead of time and stresses about it -and with a court process she is afraid of having to appear and be cross examined. Unite was involved and the union rep said he didn't know what to do next, after her final meeting with management and dismissal. Interestingly, she received her P45 first thing the very next morning in the post, so it must have been posted before her meeting and dismissal, which means it was a foregone conclusion. 

I'm sure Unite would still have her documents. It was a restaurant/catering position in a visitor attraction. I worked there too and saw for myself what was going on. We are unable to speak to newspapers as we signed a work contract with a clause that prevents us.

They did set up a formal disciplinary process with the intention of removing her from her job which took about 18 months, step by step. She was sent to an occupational doctor twice who made it clear in his letter that by law, her disability needed to be taken into consideration and adjustments made in the tasks given to her. For example, multi-tasking was difficult and to be avoided. On her second visit, he said that his recommendations were not being followed by the management and later, was disappointed and sorry when he heard she had been dismissed.

During the 18 months process of daily assessments, her confidence was ripped to shreds. The criticisms were trivial things that would not have been pointed out to anyone else. The supervisors had been told to watch out for anything they could twist into a mistake. She was shouted at, sworn at and repeatedly bullied. At one time when something went wrong and she denied being involved, she was called a liar, and there was no apology when it was proven incorrect. I can vouch that she is totally truthful and honest and would always volunteer information if something went wrong. But they seemed unaware of her good qualities. 

One time, when she was crying after being told off, we, the other workers, were instructed not to speak to her to comfort her. A supervisor asked me to tell him if my friend phoned me after work as he didn't want her "pestering me"- I replied that she was my friend and after work we were perfectly entitled to speak as often as we liked. Other workers were encouraged to inform on her if she made a mistake and some interfered with her work and made put down comments because they felt the management was allowing it. She only made mistakes on tasks that they persistently told her she was useless at. Although I didn't hear any myself, several colleagues told me that there were cruel jokes made about her by the managers and supervisors in the office and on social occasions.

They used to get her in first thing in the morning to set up before everyone else arrived and this she repeatedly didn't do to their exacting standards, more out of nerves than anything else. She was so stressed out, she wasn't sleeping or eating properly and was constantly in tears. The management would say they followed the company formal disciplinary process correctly -but they did in actuality put her in a position to fail. I was actually very proud of her, as she mastered so many skills we thought she would find difficult, such as working on the tills, and she was very meticulous in everything she did, so she achieved a lot but this was not recognised. She is now petrified of getting another job.

Anyway, it has been good to speak of this. I hate to think of others with ASD having similar cruel experiences.  

Many thanks for your help.

Rona

Thanks so much for your advice- I think it would be worthwhile pursuing compensation but my friend always forsees difficulties ahead of time and stresses about it -and with a court process she is afraid of having to appear and be cross examined. Unite was involved and the union rep said he didn't know what to do next, after her final meeting with management and dismissal. Interestingly, she received her P45 first thing the very next morning in the post, so it must have been posted before her meeting and dismissal, which means it was a foregone conclusion. 

I'm sure Unite would still have her documents. It was a restaurant/catering position in a visitor attraction. I worked there too and saw for myself what was going on. We are unable to speak to newspapers as we signed a work contract with a clause that prevents us.

They did set up a formal disciplinary process with the intention of removing her from her job which took about 18 months, step by step. She was sent to an occupational doctor twice who made it clear in his letter that by law, her disability needed to be taken into consideration and adjustments made in the tasks given to her. For example, multi-tasking was difficult and to be avoided. On her second visit, he said that his recommendations were not being followed by the management and later, was disappointed and sorry when he heard she had been dismissed.

During the 18 months process of daily assessments, her confidence was ripped to shreds. The criticisms were trivial things that would not have been pointed out to anyone else. The supervisors had been told to watch out for anything they could twist into a mistake. She was shouted at, sworn at and repeatedly bullied. At one time when something went wrong and she denied being involved, she was called a liar, and there was no apology when it was proven incorrect. I can vouch that she is totally truthful and honest and would always volunteer information if something went wrong. But they seemed unaware of her good qualities. 

One time, when she was crying after being told off, we, the other workers, were instructed not to speak to her to comfort her. A supervisor asked me to tell him if my friend phoned me after work as he didn't want her "pestering me"- I replied that she was my friend and after work we were perfectly entitled to speak as often as we liked. Other workers were encouraged to inform on her if she made a mistake and some interfered with her work and made put down comments because they felt the management was allowing it. She only made mistakes on tasks that they persistently told her she was useless at. Although I didn't hear any myself, several colleagues told me that there were cruel jokes made about her by the managers and supervisors in the office and on social occasions.

They used to get her in first thing in the morning to set up before everyone else arrived and this she repeatedly didn't do to their exacting standards, more out of nerves than anything else. She was so stressed out, she wasn't sleeping or eating properly and was constantly in tears. The management would say they followed the company formal disciplinary process correctly -but they did in actuality put her in a position to fail. I was actually very proud of her, as she mastered so many skills we thought she would find difficult, such as working on the tills, and she was very meticulous in everything she did, so she achieved a lot but this was not recognised. She is now petrified of getting another job.

Anyway, it has been good to speak of this. I hate to think of others with ASD having similar cruel experiences.  

Many thanks for your help.

Rona