TL;DR: I'm ASD, live in North Carolina and was given a 2 week notice at a new job on Friday (09/09) after ~10 weeks on the job because I haven't picked it up fast enough but received no coaching or any sort of help or accommodation. Is this legal?
Apologies if this inappropriate but I guess I'm looking for advice/input on a possible wrongful termination? I am not looking to sue or anything, mostly trying to make sure I'm advocating for myself while I find a new position because I'm the sole breadwinner right now (wife was already looking for jobs) and while I received a notice 2 weeks can fly by.
I currently live and work in North Carolina and am a drafter working in construction design, the company I worked for for the previous 2.5 years was bought out in April and I was retained in the transition. I was the lead structural drafter for a commercial modular company and we were purchased by a mobile/modular manufacturer, so while I was familiar with the concepts and standard I didn't have much experience in the new areas and went from designing part of a larger, commercial building to design while houses by myself.
I had to drive 12 hours for training with a coworker that transferred, too, but it was “accelerated” training and was only about 1/2 their typical length (2 weeks instead of 4) and the only feedback I received for the last 10 weeks since my training ended besides redlines (markups of my work showing what wrong) was an “unofficial” warning on a phone call about 3 weeks after training with my manager and direct supervisor saying that my coworker was doing fine and I needed to speed up to meet their requirements. Fine, I'm not disputing that I wasn't getting as much work done: I was still learning and my coworker had done this sort of job before. However, I received no feedback, coaching, or additional resources after the call until I was about 10 weeks into the job, 7 weeks after the first call.
On Friday (09/09) I received a call from my manager and department head saying I wasn't meeting their minimum requirements for speed and accuracy and was told I was being terminated. I cited my improvement since receiving a new computer (IT issues described below) and touched on the fact that I've received no additional feedback, coaching, resources, or warnings since the “unofficial” warning. My manager responded saying that I'm too much of a resource draw because it had been taking 2 rounds of redlines to get an house out, they're not changing their minds on it and that “coaching is difficult for a remote job and (he's) not (here) to do it” but because “(they're) such a classy place” he was going to give me 2 weeks to try and get another job while I get everything buttoned up before I leave.
I have 37 hours of sick time/paid time: should this be paid out, or is that by employers ?
Any input and/or advice is appreciated. While I'm not looking to pursue any legal action I don't know if my termination was “right” in that as someone with ASD my understanding is that there are some protections under the ADA required prior to being fired. Things to note/possible answers to any questions:
1) I worked remotely for my previous job for 18 months before moving cross country to be closer to factory I was designing for; I received and responded positively to feedback and (non-disciplinary) coaching that I received. I have been working in the same office I was in before the sale at a cubicle, opposite my coworker.
2) I am diagnosed ASD and communicated this during my interview/hiring process as well as during my 2 week training; I was not told to provide that part of my medical records to HR or anyone else.
3) I did not receive any on onboarding paperwork, an employee handbook, IT handbook/rules, or sign any new hire paperwork (beyond insurance and payroll forms).
4) My coworker and I had consistent IT issues for the first 12 weeks on the job: we worked remotely in NC using a VPN to access our work computers in Indiana but had frequent freezes/disconnections/latency until our computers in IN were replaced; I would lose at least 90 minutes of work a day to these problems, and IT was working on the issues the whole time. This is potentially relevant because these same issues occured during training and got worse after returning home and this not help me to learn my new job any quicker.
5) I have had a funny feeling that I was being watched for the last 6 weeks, noticed indicators that my computer was being monitored/recorded (pretty normal for a remote, job in my experience), and about 2 weeks prior to receiving my notice I saw my coworkers phone camera pop up over the cube wall and stay there for a bit- I assume he was recording/taking pictures of me while I was on my phone (I was waiting for a new assignment and wrote down the date/time which can be compared against an email and a Teams message stating the same).
6) I didn't receive or sign any new-hire/onboarding paperwork beyond insurance and payroll, nor have I received or signed anything regarding my notice.