October is Menopause Awareness Month and with women representing nearly 50% of the U.K.’s workforce, and around 3.5 million women aged 50 or over, the menopause is an issue which affects a huge proportion of employees. Six out of every 10 women experiencing menopausal symptoms say that these have a negative impact on them at work.
Unfortunately, however, until recently it hasn’t been a topic which employers have felt comfortable getting to grips with.
As a very broad overview, the menopause is a natural stage of life. It usually happens in women aged between 45 and 55 years old, although it can happen earlier or later than this. Transgender men and people who are intersex, or identify as non-binary, may also experience menopause and the symptoms.
There are 3 different stages to the menopause:
The menopause is generally said to have occurred when there have been no menstrual cycles for 12 consecutive months, but this can vary. Symptoms usually last for around 4 years, but they can be experienced for much longer. Whilst the symptoms vary between individuals, some commonly experienced symptoms include insomnia, joint problems, unpredictable hot flushes, brain fog, anxiety, exhaustion, heavy bleeding, low confidence and fatigue by way of some examples.
You don’t gain any specific new legal rights when going through the menopause. The normal employment and HR rules will apply to you. However, if you are experiencing menopause symptoms then that is a factor for employers to take into account in all the interactions they have with you. For example, if your symptoms may be affecting your performance, attendance or conduct this is something that should be taken into account and assessed when going through any formal internal processes.
Your employer is also required to provide you with a safe working environment under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and should make sure your workplace and any arrangements for the working day take the effects of the menopause into account.
You may also be protected against discrimination if you are treated badly because of the menopause.
Although the menopause itself isn’t a protected characteristic under employment law, if you are put at a disadvantage or treated less favourably because of your menopause symptoms you may have a claim for discrimination if the treatment you receive is related to a protected characteristic. For example, if you can show it is linked to your age, sex, gender reassignment or disability (see below for more details).
Some examples where these types of discrimination may arise include: where decisions are made about your employment because you are a certain age or gender, you hear comments relating to the menopause which make you feel uncomfortable, someone makes a comment to you about the menopause which upset you or you are overlooked for promotions or opportunities because of a prejudice surrounding the menopause.
There’s been a lot of debate as to whether the menopause can constitute a disability. The definition of a disability in employment law is different to a disability for the purposes of benefits or a blue badge so you could be disabled for employment law purposes but not be entitled to receive state support.
In employment law, a disability is defined in the Equality Act 2010 as a physical or a mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse impact on the individual’s ability to carry out their normal day to day activities.
The menopause isn’t expressly listed in the Equality Act as a disability but if your symptoms affect your day to day activities then you may potentially be treated as disabled because of the menopause for the purposes of employment law. You need to think about the impact your menopause symptoms have on you and what you can and can’t do because of the menopause.
If your menopause symptoms do have this effect on you and you are treated badly at work because of it, you may possibly have a claim for disability discrimination and should seek further advice.
The menopause can affect employees in different ways and there is no “one size fits all” approach.
However, all workplaces should consider the following things to fully support women going through the menopause:
If you don’t have these in your workplace, you may want to consider raising this with your HR team.
As with all concerns at work, if you are unhappy about something that has happened and you haven’t been able to resolve it informally, you should raise a grievance using your employer’s grievance policy.
You should explain clearly in the grievance that you believe the issues are connected to the menopause and give the reasons why.
Your employer should then follow their grievance process with you, investigate your concerns and provide you with an outcome.
If your grievance is not upheld or you are not happy with the outcome, you should exhaust the appeal process with your employer.
If you are still not happy at the end of the appeal process, depending on what has happened you may be able to bring a tribunal claim. We’d recommend seeking legal advice about your options as soon as possible as there are short time frames to take any legal action (normally no more than three months less a day from the date of the action you are complaining about).
