May fail probation period due to lack of training and medical conditions

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I am in a serious situation that I may lose my job due to my eye condition, disability and lack of training! As my probabation is up!

I work in a supermarket as a display assistant. I go to various parts of the country to work in a team doing store refits. I was thrown into the deep end after only doing 1 full day of work in my own store and basically was told to get on with it. I was given no or little training in what to look for in certain reports. Because of this, I made errors and that cost us time.

I also have dyslexia which makes my processing skills slower than normal. We are expected to put out 40 cases of stuff onto the shelves per hour! I am managing to do 22. The hour also includes putting cases into the overs section in the warehouse when they don't fit on the shelves. Also as I am dyslexic, if I need to put out anything in a glass jar or bottle in it's ready shelved packaging onto a top shelf, I have to remove some of them before I put the ready shelved packaging onto the shelf, then put the rest back. My dyslexia affects my balance as well. I haven't seen anyone achieve this target unless they are doing a promo aisle for large cases of beer as they come in single cases!

Then I have a deteriotating eye condition which I am seeing the eye clinic at the local hospital. It has gone so bad that I am being referred to the contact lens clinic as in the past year my eye sight has worsened about 5 times quicker than average! What happened was last week, I knocked over a jar of coffee and the glass went everywhere. I cleared it up then my manager a few mins later saw a piece of glass on the floor and said I didn't clear it up! I couldn't see that piece of glass at all. As there was not many staff on that week due to annual leave and sickness, I was unable to get someone to double check with me.

The staff do know of my eye condition and not my dyslexia as some people think dyslexia means thick. I bet if I mention it, they will say it's an excuse. I have always not discussed my dyslexia until a problem arises at previous employers. I didn't mention this to 2 previous employers.

The other most annoying thing is that the store trainer tells me off for not pushing the roller cages and other devices we use to transport the cases across the shop floor. I don't push them incorrectly all of the time, and yet doesn't tell off any other colleague! I find that rather insulting and borders with bullying. Also I was promised that I will be till trained and bailer trained which has never materialised. So when the bailer is full, other managers ask me to compress the cardboard and have to explain that I can't as I'm not trained. Also the same applies when the tannoy asks for till trained staff to come to the checkouts.

There are other colleagues that have worse eyesight and are slower than myself and yet have been working for the company for years.

It took me almost 4 months to get this job and I cannot afford to lose this job as I don't want to lose it due to my medical problems and lack of training! I don't know what to do if I do get dismissed. I have already been made redundant twice since I started work 11.5 years ago (6 years of that was part time) and dismissed a year ago due to an ear infection.

I am getting so anxious and willing to accept other positions at other stores in the local area if they actually give me training

Sorry that this post is long but inorder to give you the details, I have to explain it all.

Any advice will be good.

Thanks in advance.

Strider590

First - You can't be removed from your job due to a medical condition if the employer was aware of this condition at employment date.
However if not, then they have to be careful due to discrimination law's anyway!

Second - Training is the responsibility of the employer, if the employer has not offered training they cannot get rid of you for lack of training.

Horace

Get in touch with Access to Work as they will make recommendations to your employers for reasonable adjustment, this is especially useful if you have sight problems.

I know where you are coming from because I too have a deteroriating eye condition.

Bethankim

Hi sorry its so bad for you,

under the DDA (disability act) dyslexia is covered and the company legally cannot discriminate and must make reasonable adjustments for you, also with your eye condition find out what is the technical defination of being legally blind as you will be registed disabled, donest mean you cant work but does mean your protected legally when looking for work and you can then get other support too.

Im Dyslexic and very open about it, before i became sick i worked as a senior council offiicer and was always supported to do my job.

good luck, better to be upfront, your not thinck you have dyslexia a recognised thing that as i say is covered.

hope that helps a bit

Beth

Horace

Here is the link to the Access to Work website. It is your right as a disabled person to work.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/Employmentsupport/WorkSchemesAndProgrammes/DG_4000347

Do as Beth suggests too and declare your dyslexia.

Caroline73_2

While I empathise with your position, you say that your ability to work to speed is hampered by your dyslexia, but failed to mention it to your employers?

While you may have some sort of case with regard to training - you cannot expect them to understand your dyslexia if you they don't know. You are only managing to put out just over half of the cases expected so they aren't going to be happy.

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I got a meeting tomorrow at work to discuss my problems during the probation period with the store manager. I am seriously worried that he won't take any of my medical problems (eye condition and dyslexia) seriously.

If I am dismissed tomorrow, no-one wants to employ someone who was dismissed due to their health problems. Plus if I'm dismissed then there's something wrong as there are colleagues with even worse eye sight and other medical problems than I have.

I would love you hear from you all. I'm very scared and frightened. I am so ashamed over my medical problems

Bobl

The way I see it there are two different issues here:

1st - You are on probation and you have not met the performance criteria for the job, therefore they are within their rights to let you go.
2nd - You did not alert them to your medical conditions when you applied for the job - therefore your medical conditions may prevent you from performing this role, which again they could let you go because you did not tell them.

I would suggest you be very honest with your manager, and suggest that you are willing to be retrained in another role (Tills etc). No Manager will want to risk being seen as discriminatory and they may help you. But be aware that if you are on probation they can let you go.

Good Luck

-BA-

You might want to consider getting in touch with a Workstep provider. Workstep is a supported employment programme that can help people with disabilities/long term illnesses sucure employment (must be of 16 hours or more per week) or help them to remain in their current role (again must be 16 hours or more per week) if they are at risk of losing that job due to their health condition.

The job does need to last for more than 6 months but a probation period is usually part of a permanent contract and should be ok. It's only that Workstep cannot be implemented for temporary work.

Here is a link:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/Employmentsupport/WorkSchemesAndProgrammes/DG_4001973

**EDIT** See my post below for first port of call actually being Access to Work as already stated. My greatest concern was your timeframe whereas Access to Work can take weeks to implement. Essentially your first port of call needs to be your DEA (Disability Employment Advisor) at your local jobcentre and you need to discuss with them the possibility of a referral to a Workstep provider for what is know as a retention case. For the record you don't have to be unemployed to access the services of your local jobcentre.

-BA-

First and foremost were you asked during your application process (either on your app. form or during interview) whether you had any disabilities or illnesses? A company has the right to ask in order to prepare their work force or environment under their obligations to make reasonable adjustment. If you said no at this stage and then need to use it as a defence for your performance issues then unfortunately it will be grounds for instant dismissal. Nothing to do with your disability, simply to do with being dishonest when applying.

If however they didn't ask or you did tell them at application then it is absolutely their obligation to comply with the DDA and make those reasonable adjustments. As already mentioned, Access to Would be an excellent place to start as I had forgotten that in order to implement Workstep, other avenues like Access to Work need to have been explored first.

Time is not on your side but going into tomorrow's meeting with a better knowledge of the laws and support in place to support you with your disability might help to negotiate a better outcome for you.

You might want to also check your company policies on the probation period. If someone is in danger of failing a probation they need to be warned of this and offered support to meet the level. This should have been reviewed closely. If that person still doesn't achieve then failure of that probation is then appropriate. If they haven't followed the guidelines in their own policies then you also have good grounds for defending yourself.

Is it only dyslexia you have? Have you ever been tested for dyspraxia or ataxia? These two tend to be the ones that are more associated with coordination and balance issues. One last thing, is your dyslexia actually diagnosed? A lot of people say they have dyslexia but have never actually been tested and naturally telling an employer anything so important needs to be truthful.

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I did admit to my eye condition on the medical form. I have never disclosed my dyslexia until I in the job as if I put it onto my job application form, as many people don't know about it much, some people think dyslexia = thick and not all dyslexic people are the same ie it affects them in different ways to other people. For example I am very good at maths, but with many dyslexics maths is their downfall. Also my dyslexia was mild and due to stress of my grandfather's health, it has become worse in the past 8 weeks. On the few application forms I have admitted to my dyslexia, I didn't get interviews. A good example of this was submitting two application forms for 2 companies which are part of the same group. They were for the same job, same pay and same experience required. I got an interview for the job that I didn't disclose the dyslexia.

The thing was there was no section for me to add further details or 'tick' the dyslexia box on the medical form which I filled in once I started work. Also due to the nature of the job, it's very difficult to get some 1-2-1 time with managers and disclose my dyslexia.

If I get dismissed for there's no hope for me. I rather commit suicide than job hunt again as I was unemployed on and off from March-Nov 2008.