Legal HR advice for companies

Menopause Policy Matters

October 5, 2023

£37k awarded to office manager

An officer manager was awarded £37,000 in compensation after her employer claimed the menopause was her “excuse for everything”, which she then said made her position with the company “untenable and intolerable”.

The Aberdeen tribunal heard Mrs K Anderson had called in sick to her work at manufacturing supplier Thistle Marine (Peterhead) after experiencing heavy menopausal bleeding, but was told to “just get on with it” as “everyone f****** gets it” by her boss and company director, Jim Clark.

The tribunal ruled that Mr Clark’s comments were “deeply insulting” and “demeaning” and amounted to statutory harassment. Consequently, the firm was ordered to pay her more than £37,000 in compensation, covering harassment and unfair dismissal claims.

As only women suffer it, then any harassment which has “the purpose of violating the claimant’s dignity,” is in breach of the Equality Act, in this case, sex discrimination.

EHRC to launch more guidance

On 2nd October, Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said it would soon be launching new menopause guidance for employers, following an employment tribunal ruling that a Leceister-based social worker was disabled by virtue of her symptoms of menopause combined with symptoms of stress and anxiety. The case involves the first Employment Appeal Tribunal decision that menopause symptoms can amount to a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act, setting a legal precedent.

Of course, not all women suffer severe symptoms but for some it is extremely debilitating and they may qualify as disabled under the Equality Act.