Menopause Discrimination
This month the government rejected a recommendation by the Women and Equalities Committee to include menopause as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. The reasons for this were that a women experiencing menopause could bring a claim under the protected characteristics of either age, sex or disability depending on the nature of how the menopause has impacted them and any detriment they may have been subjected to.
The suggestion of menopausal leave and a menopause policy was also rejected but the government will be appointing a menopause employment champion which sounds rather woolly and toothless if it is not a ministerial role. Whilst it is correct that many employees could theoretically bring claims under other protected characteristics the awareness of these issues is low in both employees and employers. However, many companies do now offer training which includes wearing heated vests to simulate what a hot flush feels like for non-menopausal colleagues.
