Non-disclosure of disability on Occupational Health questionaire

inglorius

I was diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome quite recently, never having the official medical diagnosis until I was in my 40's. I disclosed this information to my previous employers but then was made redundant and had to move onto another job.

My current employer sent me an electronic health questionnaire via e-mail before I started; given this was about a year ago I genuinely cannot remember if it had any questions on it regards Aspergers or mental health problems on it.

Last week I sat down for a mid year appraisal with my line manager; one of the standard questions on the appraisal form is behaving professionally and treating colleagues with respect. Out of the blue my line manager started flagging that he had noticed that in some situations he had noticed me laughing at inappropriate moments during serious conversations, he had never raised this as an issue with me before and I was quite taken aback.

My line manager then asked if anyone had flagged this to me before and I replied no, at the end of the appraisal he then made this point a large adverse chunk of my overall performance over the previous 6 months which I found to be very unfair.

At the time I did not even think about mentioning my Aspergers as being a potential cause of this seemingly inappropriate behaviour, in retrospect I have decided to see my line manager on Monday to discuss this with him.

My largest concern is that I cannot remember if I did divulge I had Aspergers on the Occupational Health Medical Questionnaire which then could leave me liable for dismissal if then I mention I have a disability which I didn't disclose, please can anyone advise as to the best course of action,

TIA

sangie595

If you haven't and don't disclose a disability, then you can't then claim that the employer hasn't taken it into account. So if your condition is what is causing the inappropriate behaviour, then you have no fence if got haven't declared it. That said, disclosure isn't a carte blanche - if your inappropriate behaviour impacts adversely on the employers business, then that doesn't mean they can't dismiss as a result.

If you have only recently been diagnosed, I would assume that you didn't have the diagnosis at the time you culled in the form. In which case you should be ok. They can't say you didn't tell them about something you didn't know.

That said, if you don't have two years service, you're on dodgy ground. They can't dismiss you for your disability - but proving that use the reason is somewhat different.

Hoogle

They can not dismiss you due to a disability, Yes I would advise that if you have something that can effect your ability to do the job as expected then you should discuss it with HR or a trained person within your organisation. However Aspergers is very misunderstood the only thing people that are not fully understanding of the condition think DUstin hoffman in Rainman or watching channel 4s undateable (i think it is CH4) which of course makes people assume we are at the very top of the scale and can not be normal. If you were a kid now it probably would be picked as it was not such common knowledge 40 years ago a lot of us are only just being diagnosed (35 and only diagnosed in July officially) I have had many successful jobs in I.T yet so many problems with arguing with people or being inappropriate especially on bad news etc. But it is down to your workplace to understand how you could behave differently and perhaps make suitable changes to accommodate your needs more. My last job was very understanding allowed me to work flexible hours, gave me my own office and completely ignored any kind of dress code and just let me be. On 1 occasion a client came in and complained about something I was saying and my manager stood up and told them if they dont like it then take their business elsewhere and explained that I have aspergers and I was very good at my job which is all that counts not my social interaction skills.

inglorius

sangie595 wrote: »

If you haven't and don't disclose a disability, then you can't then claim that the employer hasn't taken it into account. So if your condition is what is causing the inappropriate behaviour, then you have no fence if got haven't declared it. That said, disclosure isn't a carte blanche - if your inappropriate behaviour impacts adversely on the employers business, then that doesn't mean they can't dismiss as a result.

If you have only recently been diagnosed, I would assume that you didn't have the diagnosis at the time you culled in the form. In which case you should be ok. They can't say you didn't tell them about something you didn't know.

That said, if you don't have two years service, you're on dodgy ground. They can't dismiss you for your disability - but proving that use the reason is somewhat different.

The fact is I genuinely cant remember if there was a question asking about it on the health questionnaire, I was diagnosed about 4 months before I started with my current employer, having only been here 13 months.

My dilemma is should I bring this up now not knowing if I did divulge it or not and run the risk of them dismissing me or accept the substandard appraisal which I am able to mitigate but can't - I seem to be between a rock and a hard place.

sangie595

Having checked your posting history, you have little employment protection, and something of a history - your attitude has been criticised by a previous employer, and you are disputing overtime hours. I think you need to consider carefully here - is the manager correct? Because you think it's unfair, but your judgment may not be accurate. To what extent can you deal with this issue? I think I'd like to know more before suggesting what toy should say.

sangie595

inglorius wrote: »

The fact is I genuinely cant remember if there was a question asking about it on the health questionnaire, I was diagnosed about 4 months before I started with my current employer, having only been here 13 months.

My dilemma is should I bring this up now not knowing if I did divulge it or not and run the risk of them dismissing me or accept the substandard appraisal which I am able to mitigate but can't - I seem to be between a rock and a hard place.

There was a question. It must have asked for any health conditions - such forms always ask for everything. But that isn't important right now. Managing this as well as possible is. Explain more about the problems.

sangie595

Ps. Please also confirm your length of service. You say 13 months here. Two weeks ago it was 9 months! Which is it?

inglorius

sangie595 wrote: »

Ps. Please also confirm your length of service. You say 13 months here. Two weeks ago it was 9 months! Which is it?

Sorry you've asked me a lot of questions there, what else would you like to know? My service is 13 months, please advise what other information you are looking for

sangie595

inglorius wrote: »

Sorry you've asked me a lot of questions there, what else would you like to know? My service is 13 months, please advise what other information you are looking for

The answers to the questions in post 5. And an explanation as to why you only had 9 months service two weeks ago? It's quite a significant amount of difference...

BorisThomson

You have had your manner mentioned to you before when you were subject to an investigation, did you not tell them about your condition then?

You are free to declare your condition now and I would encourage you to do so. They may be able to offer you additional mentoring, more regular reviews or other appropriate support so any issues are addressed in a more timely fashion.

I would add a caveat that some employers will not take kindly to you withholding this information. It's not unlawful to do so, and they cannot dismiss you as a direct result of it, but your dishonesty may raise questions as to your overall attitude and (should they wish to) you may be managed out by other means. Disability brings you additional protections, but does not make you unsackable.

inglorius

sangie595 wrote: »

The answers to the questions in post 5. And an explanation as to why you only had 9 months service two weeks ago? It's quite a significant amount of difference...

I started in September 2016. Regards your other questions my line manager may be correct, it has never been raised as an issue to me in my current employment until now or indeed my previous 25 odd years prior employment. The comment genuinely came as a shock to me so to answer your other question it could be managed or reasonable adjustments made if when I did exhibit this behaviour in the future someone fedback to me that I was doing it.