Hello, I'm a little unsure how NAV will handle you, since you are Irish and have only lived there for a few years. What's your status in Norway, you're an Irishman who travelled there to work? Or have you moved to Norway permanently?
Workplace facilitations, I think it's common for many workplaces to bend over backwards for their employees. So you will be treated good I think, both with and without AS.
Thank you for your prompt response.
So, I have been living in and working in Norway for a few years, and I look to stay permanently.
Well, the DPS that was evaluating me, around 2 months before they finished up, they put me in touch with a NAV Job Specialist, and she had communication with me, my psychotherapist and my employer. Now, at this point, it wasn't particularly clear I had Asperger's, especially to me, but they were at least floating the prospect. The NAV Job Specialist, looked to understand what kind of workplace facilitations I needed, and she drew up a list. With my permission, she met with my supervisor.
Coincidentally, at the same time, I had submitted a complaint to my supervisor about a team lead that had been name calling me in private, as they were frustrated with me, and I guess my Asperger tendencies. I requested that I change team, and submitted a complaint to my supervisor in writing.
Anyways, the NAV Job Specialist meets with my supervisor, and the supervisor is not particularly happy with the workplace facilitations, or the conversation with the NAV Job Specialist. She told me, he didn't seem very interested, and looked to not give straight answers about what he might be able to do etc.
NAV Job Specialist goes on vacation for a week, and during this week, my supervisor asks for me to meet with him. During this meeting, he reads down through all of the suggestions (headphones, desk placement, maybe dimmed lights), and he smiles and says that he thinks I should just work from home, and should do so immediately. He says that I am allowed to do so on a trial basis, and after the trial, "my employment going forward would be re-evaluated". I asked him what he meant by this, and he said that my contract would have to be changed in some ways. It was at this point I started to document the meetings, and sending summaries of the meetings to the supervisor.
So, I worked from home for a few days, but I felt like something wasn't right, and the NAV Job Specialist was returning soon, and I would discuss the matter with her. I decided that I would return to the office, and I sent an email beforehand explaining a union rep needs to be present, indicating that working remotely isn't something that we asked for, and it would be a large change to make, considering the workplace facilitations we requested.
When I returned to the office, I met with the union representative, and I asked that he be present for any meetings I have with the supervisor on this topic going forward. The supervisor tried to corner me, to get me to meet with him alone, but I held firm, and told him I was going to get the union rep, which then made the supervisor run off. He then returned a couple of hours later, visibly angry that the union rep was present. He didn't talk to us about workplace facilitations, he asked me to submit a written complaint about the colleague from weeks ago directly to HR. I asked him, why the complaint I had sent to him weeks ago wasn't sufficient, and he wouldn't answer.
After the NAV Job Specialist returned, she revealed to me that the supervisor had been sending her emails. He basically said that they cannot implement any of the facilitations, that I would have to work remotely, and that my ability to do my job remotely was greatly diminished for some reason (I'm a software engineer, working on a team with other remote people...). He then demands that she get her supervisor to write her a letter to indicate what her job description is.
Anyways, after this, the supervisor avoids meeting with us, and keeps cancelling meetings on what workplace facilitations can be handled, he won't even talk about it if you were to speak with him. He seems really angry during these meetings. We eventually have to get the union lawyer involved, and he gets in touch with the NAV Job Specialist, and she brings him up to speed on the correspondence the supervisor has been sending.
The supervisor, in the meantime, looks to present my return to the office as a breach of conduct... Saying that I didn't provide enough warning before returning, etc. Which is strange, because there was nothing to indicate to me, that I had to provide a warning before coming into the office, or did anyone tell me why I could not come into the office. And, from we could tell, looked to represent the situation to upper management as an insubordinate employee. Upper management and HR booked an appointment with me, and I became very stressed out, and suicidal.
The union lawyer then sent an letter to the company, making it clear, that in light of the workplace facilitations requested, demanding that an employee works from home, would be seen as not facilitating anything, and also isolating an employee against their wishes and changing the stated work location on their contract. The meeting with upper management rolls around, and they don't say anything really, and the supervisor very begrudgingly accepts to have a conversation with me about what workplace facilitations can be performed. The supervisor was still very resistant, and I only got a change of desk and headphones in the end.
The whole ordeal, made me leave on medical leave for work related stress, and I have to say it was completely humiliating, and I view it as an attempt by an employer, of using my workplace facilitation as a guise, to separate me from the person I complained about, and perhaps, look to change my contract and force me out of the company.
It is after this whole ordeal, that I just don't know what to expect anymore about workplace facilitations, and if I can expect to work in an office again in Norway. When I talk to NAV, they are just very matter of fact, that the employer must make reasonable facilitations, but I am terrified of going through the same thing again somewhere else.
