Women’s football club fined £50,000 for dismissing autistic coach

By Maggie Baksta

Employers urged to obtain an accurate diagnosis where a suspected disability is disclosed, as commission declares coach’s sacking an ‘act of discrimination’

Football club Arsenal Women has been fined £50,000 by an independent regulator for dismissing a youth football coach shortly after he disclosed suspected autism.

Robin Carpenter began working for Arsenal in 2007 and was a coach for the club’s under-15 team when he was dismissed in 2014. Following an investigation, the Regulatory Commission of the Football Association (FA) concluded Arsenal Women treated Carpenter “less favourably than [it] would have treated an employee without disability” after the club dismissed him a few days after he disclosed concerns about potentially having autism.

To read full article, click here