My Line manager rejected my flexible work request at an informal meeting without stating clear justifiable reasons, her reasons were based on opinions and concerns what others might think if I got to work from home more than them which didn't seem fair because I disclosed I am Autistic which they kept ignoring. My line manager referred me to occupational health and didn't bother to follow up the outcome or discuss the recommendation for noise cancelling headphones which made me feel ignored and helpless.
My line manager didn't like that I spoke up about the truth after the unfair meeting, she previously agreed to doing another meeting but then pulled out and passed it onto a new manager who didn't even know me or my job. My line manager ignored me thereafter, I felt shunned for speaking up in the workplace. The new manager called me and straight away told me she didn't think she could accept request and made up excuses over the phone stressing me out even more and making me upset. I told her that I did not want to discuss my request over the phone and after the stressful phone call I made it clear to her that I preferred her to communication with me via email. She made me feel very uncomfortable, it didn't feel like she understood or cared about my needs.
I didn't feel comfortable doing the meeting they set up because of my anxiety and sensory issues and I couldn't find a representative . I asked a member of HR if it could all be done in writing instead of meetings. She said no and that I had to do the meeting, I felt pressured. The meeting was horrible, the line manager and member of HR were both against me looking for excuses to reject my request and raising issues I'd never heard about making me shocked, confused and upset. The manager initiated the meeting and kept going on and on about why she was going to reject my request, it felt very defensive and unsupportive. They made the decision to reduce me work from home days back down to 2 days per week and made no effort to discuss ways to make my request work or look at alternative adjustments that could help me. I cried in the meeting because it was so stressful and unhelpful, it felt like they didn't care and were trying to get rid of me. I told them that I found it difficult to tolerate the long commute because of sensory overload and found it difficult to fully control the work environment as well. Her outcome letter contained indirect blame for increase in bank expenditure which was something I'd never been made aware of previously and I didn't understand why management were letting my colleagues (who have different jobs and pay grades) do parts of my job in their overtime without me knowing about it and then using this as an excuse against me in the meetings and letters to reject my request. It felt deceiving and conniving.
I asked the manager and member of HR if they had read my Occupational Therapy letter and they said no. It felt like a complete waste of time being referred to occupational health if they weren't going to follow up the outcome. The manager and member of HR kept criticizing my GP's fit as not being clear enough and kept pressuring me to get a clearer fit note when it seemed clear enough to me, it stated may be fit to work taking into account the advice for workplace adaptations and amended duties which they didn't offer me. The new manager who didn't even know me started commented on quality of communication and relationships within the team and used this as another excuse as to why I need to be in the office more than working from home, which discriminates against my impairment and difficulty with social interaction and preference for written communication. I have communicated mainly via email for a very long, I didn't appreciate how this new manager was criticizing me and making me feel like a problem. I felt like I was being bullied and they were trying to make me leave.
They said from looking at my fit note they think I am not fit to work. I asked the member of HR what would happen if I didn't get a clearer fit note, she said it could be an insurance risk for them if I had a health problem at work. I got a clearer fit note but still no effort from them to support my needs to help me stay in my job. I felt forced by them to remain on long-term sickness without any support from them to help me return to work. I felt ostracized because of my condition and difficulties, my depression, anxiety, stress and sleep got worse. I emailed the new manager (and copied in the senior manager) asking if the hospital could pay towards getting me noise cancelling headphones and she said she didn't think they could because I didn't have a confirmed diagnosis, she said she would enquire about it but never got back to me about it. Every time I tried asking for help or looked for a solution it felt like they kept creating barriers which wasn't helping and stressing me out. I sent an appeal letter to the senior manager who took a while to respond and she also rejected my flexible work request and suggested another work desk assessment which I already had and didn't help. There was no proactivity or clarity in how they could support my needs and they made no effort to help me return to work I was just left to be on long-term sickness because they assumed I wasn't fit to work. I felt so upset and distressed with how I'd been treated that I couldn't see myself returning to the workplace and ended up resigning. The unfair treatment and bullying that led up to me resigning felt like constructive dismissal. They delayed their responses which delayed my decision to resign and prolonged my sickness record. I now have to find a new job which could take me up to a year to find and I have long-term sickness on my record which could affect my chances of getting a new job. This could go to tribunal. If it does I'm not if I can get a representative or advocate to help me with the process, it might be too stressful for me.
