Discriminated for my dyslexia......

RachelH198

Hi all I am writing this on behalf of my partner, just looking for any advice etc on his current situation... Since 2008 he has been under "investigation" for numerous false allegations which he feels have been put against him as a result of a personal vendetta by a member of staff who has instigated the whole thing against him. My partner works as a caretaker for a housing association who have already lost a tribunal case for racism. The first instance was the certain manager entering into his 1-2-1 session with his line manager to have a go at him about his sickness, and he was also told that he could no longer finish work earlier on a Tuesday as he had been doing to pick his 2 year old son up, no valid reason was given for this. The certain member of staff has always spoken down to my partner with an attitude, constantly rude to him, I have even had myself to make a complaint about her as I was too called a liar. I do not even work for this company. Moving forward my partner suffers from severe dyslexia which he did explain in his interview, however at a later date during one of these investigation meetings he was told by the so called independant investigator(who actually has been involved in thew hole process - implying certain matters where my partners fault when he was not at work during the time they occured) that his dyslexia was an issue to them, however as this meeting was not recorded, just note taken this was ommited from the notes and every piece of mail that has been sent to him he was only given a 5 day period to respond to any discrepencies, at this time he was living alone so there was no way he could do this, as he is unable to confide in other people apart from myself, and i was living 200 miles away at the time. In their own disciplinary policy, it states any investigation procedure should be dealt with in a 10day period unless the police or social services have to be involved, he has been under investigation for almost 2 years. During the time period he was also sent a 100 page dossier of so called evidence, which included the fact that personal, very private information has been sent around the office on emails to several members of staff, and email was included which basically said they want to sack him. My partner has suffered from severe depression as a result of this, and it is really affecting him strongly, which they have also admitted the fact they constantly send him letters trying to rearrange this meeting is impeding his recovery from depression, we are so worried that he will lose his job, he has been a victim and we are absolutely worried how we will survive financially, after this meeting on friday which they have stated will go ahead without him if he doesnt go. My partner feels humiliated after the comments about his dyslexia after what he went through earlier in life. This is a housing assocation who looks after vunerable people. Can anyone give us any advice or organisations we can speak to on a no win no fee basis etc? This is just a small section of what has actually happened, for me to write out the whole thing it would probably be longer than the Bible!! Many Thanks for reading

Googlewhacker

split it into paragraphs please

Oldernotwiser

I gave up halfway.

Savvy_Sue

If he's in a union, he should of course contact them.

If he's not, he could talk to ACAS.

He has the right to take a union official or a colleague to any disciplinary meeting but I'm struggling to understand whether this meeting is a disciplinary or an investigative meeting.

RachelH198

Sorry for not splitting it into paragraphs, was just typing as my partner spoke.

Tomorrow is a disciplinary meeting, and unfortunately he is not in a Union...

dmg24

RachelH198 wrote: »

Sorry for not splitting it into paragraphs, was just typing as my partner spoke.

Tomorrow is a disciplinary meeting, and unfortunately he is not in a Union...

You can edit the post by clicking on the Edit button.

Googlewhacker

dmg24 wrote: »

You can edit the post by clicking on the Edit button.

Yes my apologies, I should have mentioned how to do it.

Zazen999

Sorry - I just can't make head or tail...

Can you sort of split it into what happened and when

a - started work on [x]
b - this happened [when]
c - that happened [when]

etc..

It will also help for him in a disciplinary if everything is listed chronologically....

sweetilemon

Hi, I would give ACAS or citizens advice a call. He certainly should not be discriminated against because of his dyslexia but I don't think it sounds like the only issue, his absences and things may also be why "they want him out". Both these organisations will be able to advise you on how to continue. You may be able to join the union to help you but I don't know if they would deal with an opened case. I doubt a no win no fee lawyer would be interested because I don't think you'd be entitled to compensation but I may be wrong. Good Luck!

Emmzi

1. unless he has made a formal application for family friendly hours and has an agreement, he has no right to leave early on Tuesdays to pick up his kid

2. I think you are saying he is going through a process because of high levels of sick absence which may result in dismissal, is that correct?

3. If so, have they referred him to occupational health, and what did that doctor say?

4. I am unsure if he has raised a grievance, or if a grievance has been raised against him, in addition to the above. if either, could you be specific about what the grievance was about?

Bottom line, if his illness makes him unable to fulfil the terms of his contract, they can dismiss, if they have followed thei rown internal procedures and these procedures are legal.

SarEl

sweetilemon wrote: »

Hi, I would give ACAS or citizens advice a call. He certainly should not be discriminated against because of his dyslexia but I don't think it sounds like the only issue, his absences and things may also be why "they want him out". Both these organisations will be able to advise you on how to continue. You may be able to join the union to help you but I don't know if they would deal with an opened case. I doubt a no win no fee lawyer would be interested because I don't think you'd be entitled to compensation but I may be wrong. Good Luck!

I am afraid that ACAS can only advise neutrally as to your rights (f they get is correct - there is a worrying trend of them getting even that wrong). They cannot tell you whether you have a case, or an argument to put, or anything that you need to know. And I would be very surprised if you could get a CAB appointment in time - in any case you would require a specialist adviser in employment and not all CABx have them. A solicitor isn't likely to consdier a case unless your OH is dismissed, and it is simply too late to join a union as they won't represent new members who have only just joined.

However, in terms of the actual disciplinary, what you have not made clear is what your OH is being disciplined for. It isn't discrimination to discipline someone who has a disability, and all that is required is that the employer, assuming they do know about the disbaility, makes reasonable adjustments if required. But such adjusments have to be asked for - have they been? It is a little hard to reconcile how you claim that the employer has not given sufficient time to review documents if this has been going on for two years and the disciplinary has still not been heard. Your OH's personal situation isn't relevant - the fact that you were 200 miles away and he doesn't like asking people for help is not going to wash as a reason, because he does have to make some effort too. So asking for an extra few days so that someone could have helped him would have been fine, but if he didn't ask and made no effort to find someone to help him, this isn't going to make a sterling claim of discrimination.

But the real essence here is that you haven't told us anything at all about the disciiplinary or why it has taken this long, and that is the crux of the matter. Some disciplinaries do take substantial amounts of time - 2 years for a single case is lengthy, but not entirely unheard of. And without knowing the context and the circumstances nobody could give you any meaningful advice.