A WOMAN with “rejection sensitivity” has pocketed a £12,000 after her manager reportedly told her to “stop thinking outside the box”.
Sophie Stone, who is neurodivergent, said her “human right to respect was violated” when her boss Julie Knox made the “triggering” comment.
Mrs Stone had asked Knox if there would be a ‘break-out area’ in case she felt overwhelmed during her work’s annual summer party.
The manager of the Events team at MA Business Limited in Dartford, Kent allegedly dismissed the query, after which Sophie was reportedly told “no thinking out side the box, get back in your box”.
Following the alleged comment, Stone was given a £12,000 payout for disability harassment, a type of disability discrimination, and victimisation.
The worker is both dyslexic and neurodivergent and also struggles with “rejection sensitivity dysphoria”, the employment tribunal in Croydon heard.
CHILLY CHANDRA
Up to 8 inches of SNOW to fall today as Storm Chandra hits with 75mph winds
FIND HIM
CCTV reveals Mick Jagger’s granddaughter’s partner leaving pub before he vanished
Mrs Stone was diagnosed with the former in 2004, which “has more to do with information processing than with reading and writing”.
As a result, the employee’s “relatively poor working memory” meant it would take twice the amount of time to complete a task compared to her colleagues.
She started working remotely for the company in March 2022, after which she was expected to come into the office at least once a month.
Manager Knox had sent out an invitation for the summer party to staffers via email in December 2022 which was slated for June 22.
Mrs Stone responded to the email on June 9 enquiring about the allocated break-out area, but did not receive a response.
The issue was again raised during a Teams meeting, to which Knox told Stone that it was too late to request access to the area, adding that the discussion was not “work-related”.
A second neurodivergent person known as JS on the Teams call, who suggested that the two could use their car as a safe space if needed.
Mrs Stone then claimed that her manager said she should “stop being all outside the box and get back in your boxes”.
She wrote: “I consider this direct harassment. Ridicule of my neurotype is completely unacceptable and I feel that my human right to be respected has been violated.”
The Tribunal also combed through a WhatsApp exchange between the worker and her husband following her boss’ comment.
Mrs Stone told her husband: “I’ve been going over the team meeting where Julie said ‘no thinking out side the box, get back in your boxes’ which given that I have no choice in being outside the box is really problematic for me.
“She is basically saying, mask, act neurotypical and don’t rock the boat.”
The incident was initially investigated as a grievance procedure, but JS said Mrs Knox’s version of events were correct, that she didn’t remember saying that.
She said: “Never was a sentence said to me using derogative words such as ‘in your box’ or ‘in your lane’. And certainly not from Julie.
Ridicule of my neurotype is completely unacceptable and I feel that my human right to be respected has been violated.
Sophie Stone
“But the Employment Tribunal found that this comment did in fact take place and that it was ‘unwanted conduct’ – even saying it added ‘far less weight’ to JS’s evidence because they did not attend the Tribunal.
Employment Judge Kathryn Ramsden added: “We found that Mrs Knox said something like ‘get back in your work box’, attempting to switch [Mrs Stone’s] mindset from being focused on the summer party and adjustments related to that, and back to the workload in front of her.
“In doing so we have given far less weight to JS’s apparent account, as whilst we heard evidence from Mr Allen that that is what JS said, we have not been able to question JS about it.
“Moreover, [Mrs Stone] tells us that JS’s first language is not English, and so the connotations of ‘getting back in the box’ for a neurodivergent person might not be picked up on by a person whose first language is not English, and so might not be remembered by them two months after the meeting.”
She continued: “We have found that Mrs Knox said to [Mrs Stone] and JS words along the lines of ‘get back in your work box’.
“This was unwanted conduct – it clearly distressed [her] greatly, as shown by her WhatsApp to her husband when she was still thinking about, and was very distressed about, it two days later.
“It did relate to disability – Mrs Knox was trying to get [Mrs Stone] and JS to stop talking about reasonable adjustments for the summer party, and switch back into ‘work mode’.”
“We find that Mrs Knox’s purpose was very far from seeking to violate [Mrs Stone’s] dignity, or create an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her – it was to try and get her, and JS, to get on with their work, and to bring the team meeting to a close to enable others to do so as well.
“However, we do find that it had the proscribed effect. [Mrs Stone] is neurodivergent and, she says, has rejection sensitivity dysphoria.
“Being effectively told that she was ‘outside the box’ in discussing reasonable adjustments was understandably triggering for her.”
Read the full article here