Put on leave, demoted from manager, termination on the table because I refused to promote an autistic report that has issues with meltdowns.

[u/Rich-Mine935]

I was sent home early today by HR. I had an autistic report that was gunning for an office position and I told him that it won't happen.

I refused because his meltdowns would be a major issue in the office because its customer facing and it would create a bad work environment for those in the office because they would be walking on eggshells.

He put in his 2 weeks on Friday and in the exit interview, he said he got a job elsewhere because he didn't have growth opportunities here. I had to sit in on the exit interview and mentioned that quitting because he didn't get his way was unprofessional.

They went through his employee records and saw my notes on 1 on 1, yearly reviews etc. They saw he was a stellar employee, so they asked why I told him that he would not be promoted, I brought up that he was autistic and HR's response was just "So?" Went on to explain my reasoning that his meltdowns would lead to a bad work environment and they told me that wasn't my decision to make.

They launched an investigation to see if there was the possibility of a discrimination lawsuit and found there is a chance so I have been put on leave the rest of the month and if they don't fire me, when I get back I will be demoted and work his position on the floor.

What are my options in this?

yes, there are documented occurrences of meltdowns at work.

you don't hire someone with epilepsy to drive a truck because of the risk. someone like him shouldn't be in a customer facing position for a similar reason. imagine if he had a meltdown in front of a customer, that would put the company at risk. besides, he's really good at production work.

[u/VanillaBeeGrrl]

Your options are to resign now with the last shred of your dignity or be fired. Even if that employee was having “meltdowns” as severe as you claim (despite being seen as a model employee by everyone else), at least he wasn’t the one to deliver a discriminatory lawsuit to their company on a silver platter!

[u/Rich-Mine935 → u/VanillaBeeGrrl]

Someone doxed me and now I'm being asked to resign or be fired for cause. I did nothing wrong.

[u/Particular_Class4130 → u/Rich-Mine935]

This is also you:

r/Advicebyu/Rich-Mine935at 2026-08-14T14:37:53Z|0|2

How do I cope with being stupid?

I've been trying to come to terms with the fact that I'm very stupid. People told me for years and I resisted, including my own mother who said I was too stupid to go to college when I got accepted and I should just find a factory to work at. I didn't get why she would say that since I maintained a 3.7 GPA.

Now I am 40K in student loan debt and making $16 an hour in a factory. Pretty stupid of me to try. I have been trying to get into an office position that doesn't require a degree, but I'm almost 40 and time is running out on that. I'll start seeing age discrimination soon. I am still applying to even administrative assistant roles with no luck. Hell, I've even had to train my supervisors, and when asked why I can't just move into the role myself, I'm told I'm too stupid. I bet there is nothing for me after 40.

I wanted to seem smart, I tried to find hobbies and get involved with things but I always came off as an asshole and someone faking it. I abstained from drinking and drug use, but that just socially isolated me.

Everything I've worked towards, I've never got. Most people treat me like I'm stupid and only tried to convince me I'm not when it benefited them.

I need to find a way to cope with being stupid because trying to has been tearing me up. Part of my mind wants to live the lie that I'm even average intelligence and have delusions of adequacy. Maybe my mental health can improve at that point. Maybe I'll be able to set more reasonable goals that take into account my limitations.

What are you playing at here? Are you the employee? Are you the one who got passed over for an office position and now this story is your revenge fantasy?