Work adjustment

juhn

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to check if anyone has been through something similar and could offer advice or share their experience.

I didn’t want to disclose that I’m autistic to my employer, so I initially spoke to my manager about applying for a change in my contract to work from home. Her response was that I could apply, but it would be rejected. That made me feel I had no choice but to disclose my disability in order to make a proper request.

Since we moved to the new office building, I’ve been experiencing strong sensory reactions — it’s now open-plan, extremely bright, and very noisy. This has been causing headaches, nausea, dizziness, and on some occasions I haven’t been able to get home without help.

After disclosing my diagnosis, they asked me to go through occupational health, and told me they wouldn’t consider my work-from-home request until that was completed. I’ve now had my assessment, and the report recommends I work from home and that my manager receives neurodiversity training.

However, it’s been over two months since the company received the report (I was sent a copy too), and I’ve heard nothing back. I did get an email from the occupational health provider saying that my employer is challenging the report, claiming that I’ve always been "normal" and asking "what’s changed now?" — even though the report clearly outlines the sensory issues in the new office.

I have a few questions:

• Is there a time limit for how long they can take to respond to the occupational health report?
• Can they remove my London weighting if they agree to let me work from home as a reasonable adjustment? (I’ve been told they can’t, but I’m not sure that’s accurate.)

I’m really struggling with the stress and anxiety this situation is causing. I'm also questioning whether I did the right thing by disclosing my diagnosis. Any support, experience or advice would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you so much.

Holly_Scope

Hi @juhn you've done the right thing by being open and true to yourself and your needs. I'm just so sorry that you haven't received the support and understanding that you deserve. Whilst employers do have the right to reject OH propositions, I'm surprised given the circumstances that you've not been offered some type of alternative work around if they don't feel full remote working is possible.

I was especially concerned to read about the report challenge by your employer. The fact the health professional had initially proposed training speaks volumes. I haven't been able to locate any detail on the timeframes for OH challenges unfortunately, but when researching I had found that when you feel you've not been treated fairly in these type of situations, the proposal is to seek some legal support/advice. Or if you're part of a Union, perhaps reach out to a rep. Some legal experts provide a certain level of free advice so it might be worth reaching out to a specialist.

I really hope you're able to get the support that you deserve and I wish you all the best with this situation. I'd be keen to know how you get on if you're happy to keep us updated and if you need to talk, please let us know.