Employment and Discrimination

 I’m not a rich man. Despite the fact I have autism and the many complex issues that come with it I still have to work to help my wife support our family.

I’m in a situation with my employer now where I have begun to question whether or not they will allow me to remain in their employ or if it is healthy for me to do so.

An affect of my autism is that I have an anxiety disorder.

I have felt physical affects caused by the need of being oncall in my current position. In December of last year while responding to an after hours call while I was oncall I experienced chest pains and went to the ER here at my work. ( I work in a hospital ). There were no signs of any problems with my heart and the physician in the ER told me it was likely anxiety.

I had follow up visits with a cardiologist that confirmed there wasn’t an issue with my heart.

I still feel the physical and mental affects that my current position causes me because of my autism and subsequent anxiety disorder.

My psychologist has informed me (and my employer) that my current position causes a significantly unhealthy situation and has recommended to my employer that I be transferred to a position within the company without oncall responsibility.

I have applied for the position in question. I held this same position within another department with my current employer for five years. I received positive performance evaluations each of those five years as well as written referrals from the heads of the units that I serviced. I am qualified for the position.

It’s been almost two weeks since my doctor has relayed her recommendations to the HR department of my employer but yet they still allow me to remain in what my doctor has described as a significantly unhealthy situation.

Earlier this year , I broke my wrist. Within 24 hours of contacting HR and giving them my doctors recommendation that I not use my hand with the broken wrist, I had a determination from HR that if I was to come to work it would create an unhealthy situation so I was directed by HR to not come to work.

I have provided my employer a note from my doctor concerning my current situation advising that my current position causes a significantly unhealthy situation and that I should be transferred.

The only difference that I can see is that my current situation is caused by an effect of my disability.

This is discrimination. There’s no other explanation for it.

Perhaps it’s because my disability isn’t as visible as a broken wrist in a cast but in each situation my doctor has described an unhealthy condition to the Human Resources department of my employer.

In the case of my wrist, a quick decision was made and action was promptly taken by my employer.

In the case is of my mental illness (anxiety disorder) caused by my mental disorder/disability (level 3 autism spectrum disorder ) I have been made to remain in an unhealthy situation becuase of the lack of action from my employer.

My employer touts that they support diversity and inclusion. 

Discrimination because of a disability which is protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act does not support diversity and inclusion.