Have you ever asked for accommodation at work for ADHD? What happened?

[beachbums93]

I informed my supervisor and the head of HR that I have ADD and that I just wanted them to know.  I said that I was not currently seeking accommodation.  I let them know some of the traits.  I have worked for this company for 20 years and have been treated for ADD for the past 8 years.  30 days later I was fired for “failure to meet employers standard of job performance”  No discussions about performance.  No write ups.  Had a record sales year. No discussion about reasonable accommodations.  Done.  See ya, bye bye.

Any thoughts?

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[wanderquest]

Wow. Do you have any good/or bad previous performance reviews on file? On paper that sure sounds suspicious.

It could be totally unrelated and they were just looking to downsize or something. But if so, their timing is awful.

When you told them you had ADD did you do it in writing?

 

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[beachbums93]

No negative reviews.  I was in management and our location had just broken our all-time sales record by more than 40% for the year.  We have 3 salesman at our location (including me) and we just had 1 guy resign (30 days prior to my letter) and move into a different career, so we were down 1 guy at the time.  I informed my boss and the HR director by email with a word document attached.  I was smart enough to forward the email to my personal email the day they let me go so I would have a copy of it.

I was told to my face that the company “was going in a new direction”.  But my unemployment paperwork filed with the State said “failure to meet employers standard of job performance”.

I would have thought that they would have needed to ask me about a reasonable accommodation before just firing me for poor performance.  At least that is what I understand the law to be.

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[blackdog]

@beachbum93

That is so awful. I am sorry that happened to you. 🙁

It definitely sounds suspicious. I recommend familiarizing yourself with your local employment standards and human rights laws right away. And gather together any evidence that you have on paper- performance reviews, sales records, that email that you sent, anything at all that proves there was no past issue with your performance and that you were given no prior warnings, and any medical documents regarding your diagnosis. Then get a lawyer.

If you can’t afford a lawyer try legal aid. If suing isn’t an option then look into filing a human rights claim against them. Or do both. But don’t let them get away with it.

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[beachbums93]

I have a meeting with a lawyer Monday. My only concern is that it has been about 11 months since I was fired and I hope I didn’t wait too long. I have been very concerned with finding a job and starting over.

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[blackdog]

Oh, I see. I thought that it had just happened. That could be a problem but it depends on your local laws.

Well, it sounds like you have the situation well under control anyway. At least you were smart enough to put it in writing. I wish I had of. But I wasn’t really aware of my right to accommodation. Or that they would fire me because I disclosed that I have a disability.

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[Author]

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