Employer discrimination: please help! | ADHD Information

Why did you tell your manager about your ADD if you had no performance issues? (I know this is a moot point now, but I'm having a hard time making sense of your situation).I have been employed with a multi-national corporation for nearly nine years. I have had no performance issues. Several months ago I informed my manager of my ADD diagnosis. This month, he asked me to develope an action plan which I did. I have not receiced any feed back regarding the plan. On November 18th, I was called into a meeting with two managers. They presented me with a list of "mistakes" that I  had made over the past two weeks or so. The list was made by a couple of co-workers without my knowledge. The events on the list have been exagerated and some I can document as false. I asked my manager if he would like to see the documentaion. He said "no, because it is part of a pattern". This disqualifies me from a role that they had been promising me for years.  I am requiered to meet at least daily with managers and the people who developed the list to monitor me. Some of the folks in these meetings are of questionable character and sometimes I have to meet two or three times per day with no end in sight. This is torture. There is more to this situation than I can explain here,and it is starting to destroy me. Any advice?

Are you sure there are no performance issues? Employers are schizophrenic in their own ways-- there are "no problems" until they decide there are problems. I've had this happen to me: big things like your work product usually are of high quality; little things like occassionally forgetting a meeting or being late or just spacing out on something you were supposed to do (usually not a life or death thing) get blown out of proportion and suddenly they start trying to fire you.

Have they said that their issues with you are related to ADD? Are the things that are true that they attribute to you related in your mind to ADD?

My advice: get the hell out of dodge. Even if you are not having performance issues, they are trying to set you up.

File a complaint now with U.S. Dept. of Fair Housing and Labor, so if you get fired, you can add that to their peccadillos. Labor Commissioner can't help you yet in this case, until they owe you money.
Document everything.
Find witnesses on your behalf.
Have them document everything, too.
Start looking for another job, and consider your winnings here a Christmas bonus in about 3 years...
Wow, it sounds like they're trying to force you to quit.  It may sound conspiratorial, but it really sounds like they're trying to make you miserable.  I was in the Navy and had a similar thing happen.  Co-workers made up a list of things against me, EVERY SINGLE ONE which was untrue, but they had to "document" it anyway.  What it boiled down to was during one watch string my son was sick and my husband was having panic attacks and psychotic episode ontop of psychotic episode so I had to leave work to take my son to the hospital and then a babysitter.  This made the catty girls I work with jealous, I guess, cos they're always trying to fake ways to get out of work so of course they assumed thats what I was doing, and they made that list.  My supervisor, who signed off on it, had not even worked with me yet -- it was her first night on the job.  I hate f**ked up people.  Good luck with your situation and keep us posted.  Like Fallen said, it's discrimination, and they can't f**king do it.

 

Is anyone familiar with any case related to add in employment that has been successful? 

It may be useful to track any cases like these, at any level and in any state, that are successful. 

 

If you're in the US they've violated federal discrimination laws. Check with your state laws, as many also provide protections - for example, in Massachusetts you could file a complaint formally at the state level.

In general a multinational will have strict policies for discrimination (in the US especially it's a very strict system) so you may want to try and approach your HR rep first, then go outside.

In the US any discrimination based on your ADD is illegal, this includes quantifiable loss (promotions, less pay, less bonus) and unquantifiable (hostil eworking environment).

If things are really bad, HR doesnt help and youy feel you must leave then both the US and the UK have Constructive Dismissal laws which allow you to take action against an employer who basically forced you out the door.


There was a minor incident that happened a full year before they asked me about it. It did no harm to the business but embarrased me a little. I was kind of shocked that they would bring it up a year later. The part about there being no performance issues comes from management not me.  They have to let you know if they have concerns. This is the first time they have said anything about performance. Do you have an answer to my question?