I would get advice on any contract that you signed. If you could not cope with the work, it seems very unfair that you should be prevented from getting employment with another similar company, that may be able to offer you something that suits your needs better.
You should be able to get half an hours free advice with the legal aid scheme, through a solicitor. If you ask to speak to someone who deals in employment issues.
If you didn't fully realise the meaning or consequences of signing such a contract, it could make it invalid.
On this point "Back on thread, obviously my managers could have at least tried to find me another position with the company." If you complained and told them that you couldn't cope, they should have taken that into consideration, not sure if you have a diagnosis, or if you were in a union, but I would get advice about the fact that you had to leave too.
I agree with Amy, you definitely need to get legal advice, sinistral.
It's possible that a court would find a 5-year restriction to be unreasonable and unenforceable because it is such a long time period. (There have been such cases in the US, but I'm not familiar with British law.)
No loyalty is owed to tyrants no matter how long and loudly they may claim we owe it them!
Just take care of yourself, get another job if you can, and you'll never hear from BT again.... they'd be made into a public laughing stock if they tried to take legal action against someone with ASD for breaking some kind of contract of employment.
Stella
I'm a project manager in the IT department of an aerospace company. My department is full of strange and unusual people. We are all so completely socially dysfunctional that we all manage to somehow make it work.
The funniest part is that my department sometimes needs an interpreter just to communicate with other departments.
I'm new to this Asperger's thing. But based on my own probable self diagnosis, along with descriptions I've read, someone with Asperger's makes for the perfect software developer.
The biggest challenge is finding an IT department whose project complexity is sufficient enough to hold a spatial person's attention. Quite frankly, if its not complex enough, your gonna be bored.
I have a theory... my boss is an NT. But I think he recognized certain traits in all of us. We're definitely not what you would call normal. And you couldn't function in this job if you were. LOL
I have ethical objections to working for an aerospace company.
I have ethical objections to working for an aerospace company.
Why?
Because I might be involved in designing attack aircraft which get sold to oppressive regimes. For instance, BAe Systems sold Hawk jets to Indonesia which were used during the illegal occupation of East Timor and in the 2003 assault on Aceh, and supplied fighter jet parts to Zimbabwe despite the country's involvement in the bloody Congo conflict.
And before anyone trots out the "but at least the arms trade provides jobs" argument, consider this: "...
[British] arms companies are subsidised by public money to the tune of £890m annually - close to the £950m the Institute of Fiscal Studies estimates will be raised each year by top-up fees. Public money that apparently cannot be found for education is stumped up for weapons, while government schemes encourage universities to provide cheap research facilities for these already over-protected companies."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/stor...90,00.html
If that is those huge white scary things, then I am dubious about them.
There are at least 'view pollution'. They put them round here, and they have completely ruined some spectacularly beautiful scenery forever.
They are like some contraption from War of the worlds.
If that is those huge white scary things, then I am dubious about them.
There are at least 'view pollution'. They put them round here, and they have completely ruined some spectacularly beautiful scenery forever.
Wind turbines don't damage scenery "forever". They can be dismantled without leaving any visible traces.
Enzo - I was arrested for demonstrating against an arms fair once. Admittedly that was over five years ago, so I no longer have a criminal record, but I think that would rule me out as a potential candidate for any aerospace company, no matter how many high-precision components they made.
If that is those huge white scary things, then I am dubious about them.
There are at least 'view pollution'. They put them round here, and they have completely ruined some spectacularly beautiful scenery forever.
They are like some contraption from War of the worlds.
At least they don't drastically alter the ecosystem like hydroelectric dams, or nuclear power plants (if they happen to have an accident). And you can build wind farms off shore... I think they look quite majestic, but I'm nuts. :smile:
And you can build wind farms off shore... I think they look quite majestic, but I'm nuts. :smile:
Some people have even opposed off-shore wind farms. For instance some residents of Middlesborough objected to one because it would spoil the view (what, of all the picturesque chemical refineries?). And I heard of some local branch of the Ramblers' Association which campaigned against an off-shore wind farm - have they taken up walking on water??
I have seen inland and off-shore ones, the off-shore ones look much worse, and the ones I've seen are truly horrendous.
I liked the idea before seeing them, but they make electricity pylons look natural, they are so grotesque.
I think if the ones at sea were painted to be a light blue they would look better. But maybe they need too stand out in case they get hit by airplanes or boats.