The mother of a severely autistic volunteer who ‘absolutely loved’ stacking shelves at Waitrose has spoken out today after he was ‘sacked’ when she asked if he could be paid.
Tom Boyd, 27, has clocked in more than 600 hours of work over the past four years of working at the Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester, branch of the luxury supermarket.
Last year Tom’s mother Frances Boyd, a charity worker from Stockport, and his support workers reached out to Waitrose requesting a small number of paid hours as ‘recognition for the time, effort and heart’ he has given since 2021 and to benefit his development.
The store took the request to Waitrose head office who were alarmed by the amount of unpaid work Tom had done and said he would not be able to work until they had resolved the situation.
Now, Ms Boyd has spoken out about how Tom ‘absolutely loved’ his job and of her hopes that his case could lead to better employment protection for disabled volunteers.
She said: ‘He started at Waitrose because he was on a college placement. It began with one hour a week and it started building up over time as he progressed and got better at it and use to doing it and everything was working.
‘Eventually, when he left college we asked if he could increase that time to two days which they did. We thought this was working out so well why don’t we ask Waitrose if there is a possibility of paid work.’
Speaking to BBC Breakfast this morning, Ms Boyd said: ‘He was bringing stock down from the stockroom, stacking the shelves, tidying the shelves, putting everything in order and making sure it was fully stocked.
Tom Boyd, 27, began helping out at the branch in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester, in 2021 by emptying stock cages and stacking shelves accompanied by a support worker to keep him safe
Frances Boyd (pictured) has spoken out about how her son Tom ‘absolutely loved’ his job at Waitrose and of her hopes that his case could lead to better employment protection for disabled volunteers
‘He absolutely loved it he loved that sense of belonging and the structure of going to work and the independence it gave him and feeling like a working man. We told him he was a working man once he started to go out once he’d finish college and that he use to say: “I’m working like my dad and my brother.’
Heartbreakingly, Tom and his mother were at first given hope that their request for paid work might be accepted.
‘They didn’t say no which gave us a feeling it was a possibility there was no no immediately,’ Ms Boyd said.
‘But at the time they said come back to us we’ve got recruitment in January and then we can look at it again time just went by and by July this year it went to head office.
‘And once the head office found out about it, the placement was stopped.’
Once the placement was ended, Ms Boyd says Tom struggled to understand why he could no longer carry on working at Waitrose.
She continued: ‘We had to make a story up that the shop was being cleaned temporarily and he couldn’t go into work until they cleaned it and then he might be going back and we left it at that.’
The ‘heartbroken’ mother has dismissed any possibility of taking legal action and previously said the ‘ideal situation’ would be for Tom to be able to work back at Waitrose in ‘some capacity’.
The Waitrose store in Cheadle Hulme where Tom helped out. Ms Boyd said he struggled to understand why he couldn’t return to the store after he his volunteering ended
She emphasised how ‘amazing’ the staff were on the shop floor, clarifying there has been ‘no reflection’ of the way the head office have since behaved – adding the ‘cold, harsh, big corporate company’ are the ones who don’t see him as ‘an individual’.
Ms Boyd is hoping that by shining a light on Tom’s situation it will reveal the unfairness surrounding volunteer work for disabled people.
She said: ‘People like Tom don’t fall under any rights under the equality act. When you volunteer your job can end at any time and we hope this is a lesson we can take forward and learn from and correct it.’
Currently the equality act does provide protection for autistic employees, its protection for unpaid volunteers is limited to nonexistent.
Ms Boyd and Tom’s support workers are now looking to get him working in another supermarket instead.
Alternatively, they are considering a cleaning job for him as he enjoys dusting, vacuuming and making beds.
She wrote of the situation on social media: ‘They told us he couldn’t be offered a job because he couldn’t “do the full role” – yet we know for a fact there are people in the same store being paid, and they aren’t able to do every part of the job either.
‘How is that fair?’
The fuming mother continued: ‘After everything he’s done, there was no apology, no thanks, and no recognition for his commitment. Just silence.’
In a statement Waitrose said: ‘We work hard to be an inclusive employer. As part of this, we partner with a number of charities, including to provide work experience, and are well experienced in making reasonable adjustments to help people succeed at work.
‘We are sorry to hear of Tom’s story, and whilst we cannot comment on individual cases, we are investigating as a priority.’
The Daily Mail have approached Waitrose for further comment.
