employer's liability

[99charlie]

Hi,

I am looking to go back to work for my old company (due to the current unemployment situation).

About 7 years ago, I overreacted at work, which led to me being given a final written warning. As a result of the FWW, every minor incident led me to get investigated again and again- this forced me out of the company and I resigned whilst still being investigated.

About 3 years ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD. My psychiatrist believes (as do I) that the incident where I overreacted at work was directly caused by my ADHD. I also believe that due to being overworked, it aggravated my ADHD- which caused me to behave in the way that I did.

1. I now want to get my FWW taken off my record as I believe I will be discriminated based on my new application to join the company again. Can this be done?

2. I also want to know can a company be liable for overworking staff, who later are diagnosed with a disability like ADHD?

Thanks

[ULA]

It is very unlikely that you will be able to change anything that happened 7 years ago in regard to your final written warning or any liability on the company for a condition that was unknown as the time.*

[99charlie]

Ula


1.*does my ex employer at least have an obligation to consider my application to rejoin?

2. If they didn't would that not be indirect discrimination based on their PCP going against me compared to a non disabled person?

I'm like most people at the moment. I'm worried about work and want to secure employment before matters get even worse.

[ULA]

Hi,* your ex-employer should consider your application alongside the others they receive, however it does not mean to say that they need to progress with your application if there are other more suitable candidates.

What they would need to demonstrate, if challenged, is that they fairly assessed each application. Typically the process would be to assess an application against the defined set of essential criteria for the job which may lead to an initial short-list of candidates who are then assessed against criteria that would be considered desirable to carry out the role. Rejecting someone because they do not meet the essential or desirable set of criteria is fine but rejecting someone because of a protected characteristic is not.*

[Manxman]

I also think it would be difficult to argue that your old employer had any liability for exacerbating your ADHD as presumably they weren't aware of it. Neither were you if it was only diagnosed four years after you left them.

EDIT: And there's a time limit of three years for bringing an action for personal injury, which I presume any claim would be. Even if the diagnosis was less than three years ago, how could you possibly establish it was caused/worsened by your employer?

[99charlie]

Ula** thanks for the response.

I guess what I'm trying to understand better is given I now have a diagnosis of a disability and I believe my previous final written warning and subsequent investigations were due to my disability, is any potential employer duty bound to take this into account and if they don't would that be discrimination based on their PCP?

As I said I've applied to my old company. Could they be guilty of discrimination of they failed to consider that my disability may have caused me to get a final written warning and subsequent investigations?

Thanks
*

[99charlie]

Bump