Suing for Disability Discrimination

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I have just been fired from my new job. I worked there a total of two weeks and two days. My managers told me, specifically, that I was being fired because I had Asperger's Syndrome. Their exact words were, "You should have told us during the job interview that you had Asperger's, because we would never have hired you." They only paid me for the last few days of work plus the eight hours I was supposed to do today. I'm considering suing them for disability discrimination, since they specifically told me it was because of my Asperger's that I was being fired, but I didn't think to get anything from them in writing. So, it'll be my word against there's. Plus, their job ad said "No experience necessary, all training provided," but they fired me after two weeks instead of letting me do my whole three month training period. Any advice? Can I sue them without having their reason for terminating me in writing?

I'm sorry you got fired. And what a bunch of as*hole managers. Any manager worth his or her salt knows that people with Asperger's can be excellent employees, maybe with just a little help along the way, maybe with just a little time to learn the ropes.

The short answer is, Yes, you can sue them, at considerable time, effort, and aggravation to yourself. The question might be, do you feel like you'd be improving things enough for other people to be worth the effort? And a good test might be whether or not you can get a lawyer to take the case on contingency. I suspect that many lawyers might feel there's not enough potential money involved to take the case.

And as I understand, under ADA it is the person's choice whether or not to reveal a disability. In addition, a person can choose to reveal a disability at a later date. The standard still remains reasonable accommodations. If a company can reasonably make accommodations, they are duty-bound to do so.

That's exactly what I did. I didn't tell him about it during the interview, but when things started to get rough I finally told him. I thought it would tell him that I'm not intentionally being lazy or stupid, and convince him to give me reasonable accommodations. Instead, he took it as a me being dishonest for not telling him sooner.

And they could have taken it in that spirit, hey, I'm still trying, this is why I'm having trouble.

Kind of tells me they have an authoritarian mindset and don't really want to be there. As they view it, the employees are 'hassling' them, are causing them 'problems.' They simply want the employees to be perfect cogs in a machine because they the managers don't want to do much work!

It took me a long time to realize that I usually take a job more seriously than my boss, and I run into problems because of that. Particularly if I 'pester' them with questions, even if they verbally say they welcome questions.

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When you later find yourself in a position of leadership and authority, and I hope you do because we on the Spectrum are often good at straightforward, matter-of-fact, and realistic leadership, just be middle of the road. You don't have to do anything fancy. You don't even have to be excellent. Just be middle of the road.

For example, if these clowns had given you another two weeks. You may have made progress, you may not have. You probably would have, easily warranting a decision to keep going. But at the very least you would have been more likely to feel that you were being treated fairly.

You can file a complaint, but per the law (USA), if the employer knows someone with AS is unfit to do the requirements of the job, it's not discrimination. They are only required to provide "reasonable accommodation" for a disability and if the accommodations needed to make someone with AS workable in the shop are not deemed to be "reasonable" (according to the employer's view), they have no further obligation.

Certainly, the investigating agency (and later, the court) may disagree with the employer's position, but often, they find the employer's position reasonable.

Is it possible that he took it as a declaration that you were not really capable of doing the job at the speed required?

He may have thought you were saying "I can't do this" and "you have to modify your expectations to allow for me" rather than "with just a little guidance to get through the beginning, I'll have this down and perform like everyone else."

Go get a free consult with a discrimination lawyer. You can even just call up any lawyer in your area and ask who would be the person to go to about that kind of thing. They know each other and will know who to direct you to.

Employers do this kind of thing because people don't bother to stand up for their rights. You don't hear about the few that do because the companies pay to keep the people quiet.

Thanks, guys. In the meantime, does anybody know what some jobs are that I could look into now? Ones that I could do well, and get paid well for? I'm not good at many things, but I'm the fastest typist I know (average about 60 wpm). My only real talent is writing stories, but it'd be more realistic to say I was going to make a living off winning the lottery. I'm also good at physical work-- I spent three years as a cart pusher at Walmart. Things that need dexterity, precision, or deadlines are bad matches for me. I'm also not the best at interacting directly with customers since I have difficulties understanding people.

The only thing I can say about a lawsuit is talk to a lawyer and see what he has to say.

That being said, you could try to find factory work like my two sons are doing. They are making great money and neither had ever done this kind of work before. The older one (26) had done construction all his life and the younger one (20) this was his first real job where he was paid by a check - he had done other jobs for cash before around town but this is his first real one.

They went to a temporary agency and filled out an application and took a drug test. They called them up and placed them at factories that build car parts for my oldest and car seats for my youngest. It's line work and the same old, same old, but you get paid fantastic money and there is usually all the overtime you want. It's really simple. They both say you could train a rhesus monkey to do what they do.

As for writing, I used to do that. I'll tell you how I got into it if you want to give that a try. First let me state that I've always managed to talk myself into jobs that I have no experience at nor am I qualified for, but that look fun and fairly simple to learn. I would get them and keep them for a while until I got bored and then quit. I did this with writing too. Here is how I did it.

First I wrote an op-ed article that was tailored to the interests and readers of a small paper in Birmingham. Then I called them and asked if I could send it in and of course they said yes and I did so. I called them back a week later and asked what they thought and if they would publish it. Once they did that I called again and asked if I could write some more articles for them. I asked for the manager and told him I had no experience but wanted to learn and could I do it for free. He said yes and gave me some advice and I started writing my column. After a bit they started paying me. I also sent in articles to magazines and other papers locally and put an ad in a local trade publication where I was a "pen for hire" which meant I'd write any article that they paid me to do from any viewpoint they wanted, so I might have to defend something I was against or condemn something I was for. Either way it was money.

Or you can query magazines for their current needs for articles, or if you are more ambitious and want to write longer pieces, get a copy of the Writers Market.

Good luck!

That is a fairly awesome and inspiring account, OOM.

I have a lot of respect for your enterprising and courageous spirit.

It sounds to me like you have definite grounds for suing the employers, as the way they seem to have handled things has been very kack-handed. If they were that worried about you having Asperger's, then they should have made a disability section on their job application form. It sounds like they've just fired you for having the label of having Asperger's syndrome, rather than questioning your suitability for the work and considering any accommodations they could have made in order to help you carry out the work. I think that's definite grounds for suing them, and you should go through with it and defend yourself if you feel you were being unfairly discriminated against.

I could understand their worries if it meant that there were certain aspects of the job that you may have found difficult and that this difficulty would be exacerbated by your Asperger's Syndrome, but they should have dealt with it much more delicately than this. These idiots are clearly not worth working for in the first place and deserve to be sued.

Well, I've got this update at least: I've been hired by a company called Tru Green! I begin training on Monday. I'll be driving their company van along a route and spreading fertilizer and weed killer on people's lawns. It's a fairly simple job, and has lots of physical activity- just the way I like it. It doesn't lay QUITE as good as the latest job, but it has more hours so it'll even out. So, looks like things will work out even of I don't get to sue them.

You can still do the writing. Read what I posted about how I got paid to write with no experience and see about giving it a shot since you like to write. It's fun and you can do it whenever and it can be bonus income, plus if you ever get good enough or hired on staff somewhere you can quit this job.

And how well were you getting laid at the latest job?

How did they find out you had AS?

I think it would be hard to sue them because you would have to have proof they said it. Were there any witnesses?

You should absolutely sue! They had no right to fire you! This is discrimination in it's purest form. They violated the ADA act of 1990. More info can be provided here. http://www.ada.gov

Just remember, they will lie and say that they never said such a thing and then they fired you for some other reason. However, you can also tell them that people with Asperger's are more honest and you can even submit yourself to lie detector test just to prove how honest your being and that they really said what they said. I am also absolutely convident that the person who fired you will fail the lie detector test if they claimed they fired you not for your aspergers.


Sometimes comma these drastic measures is what could actually get them in real trouble. They can also lie and say that people autism don't usually tell the truth, went for a fact we know that's not the case at all. I would absolutely take them to court over this. I am confident you're going to win and you may get your job back or a large settlement from them.

From one Aspie to another, I wish you the best of luck against those pigs.