Lynn

Lynn, in her early 30s, has attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety and depression. She was only diagnosed with ADHD a few years ago.

Lynn used to work as a casual salesperson.

‘It was the kind of place that for me working was good. Like, I can’t organise my own routine, so a job where you’ve got like a uniform and it’s nice and clean and you get to talk to different people all day every day was a good job for me.’

Lynn had been there just over a year when her GP suggested she ask her managers if they’d make the role permanent and full-time. The GP said the stability of a full-time job would make it easier to manage her ADHD. She could also then afford to see a psychologist.

At a meeting with her managers, Lynn explained her situation. She also told them she had been a substance abuser in the past and wanted mental health support to ensure she didn’t relapse.

‘After I spoke to them that day when I was upset, they pretty much signalled to me that they were going to end my employment. So the next day I came to work in uniform, like “Don’t worry I’ll be fine,” and they gave me a separation certificate.’

Lynn when home and spent a month ‘on the couch, like pretty catatonic’.

‘All I asked for was like a bit of help or for them to understand how important it was for me to go full-time so that I could see a psychologist. And instead I ended up not having a job at all. And they said something like, “You could join the circus.”’

Lynn filed a claim for compensation at the Fair Work Commission. She was offered a paltry amount and decided not to accept.

She lodged a claim in Federal Court, but this process was onerous and took a long time. Lynn couldn’t access Legal Aid and represented herself. The judge found against her.

‘His decision … was that I was an unreliable drug addict … and that I hadn’t been fired, I’d been taken off the roster.’

Lynn has found it hard to accept the judge’s decision.

‘I don’t think what he did is right and it’s not fair and it freaks me out … I at least like to think that the world has some [system] that makes sense. But it doesn’t feel like it does,’ she said.

Lynn believes her managers should have been held to account.

‘There’s just no recourse if they do the wrong thing by you. Which in my head, they did the most wrong thing that you could do, which was like totally like kind of shun me when I asked them for help.’

Lynn is on medication for ADHD and is still seeking mental health support. She is looking for work, but has little time for the job agencies Centrelink sends her to.

‘They’re, “You’re a bit acute for us so go speak to this person down the road.” And you just tell the same story over and over again. And you don’t find the connections to like move forward because you don’t stay with one person at all,’ she explained.

‘That’s why the judge thing to me was big … Like, this is wrong to get fired when you’re suicidal. This is obvious this is wrong. But it didn’t work out that way, and I’m still struggling with it … I’m just angry that I did what everyone tells you to do, which was ask for help, and I just got, like, pushed away.’