When it comes to menopause and the law there's no specific law that directly relates to the
menopause but menopause at work is covered by certain pieces of legislation to protect employees
and the employer the two laws are the equality act 2010 and the health and safety at work act 1974.
so first of all the equality act 2010
the aim of the equality act is to protect against discrimination and within the act
there are nine protected characteristics that are covered by this act they are age sex or gender
which includes gender reassignment marital status or sexual orientation pregnancy and maternity
race colour ethnicity nationality or national origins religion or belief and disability
and from these nine the three protected characteristics that have been used in court cases
involving discrimination due to the menopause are age sex and disability and the law also states
that it's illegal to discriminate against anyone with any protected characteristic
or to discriminate against anyone with an association with any protected characteristic
menopause can be a disability for some especially when their menopause symptoms are severe
and severe symptoms can have a long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out day-to-day
normal tasks what does long-term actually mean long-term means that the adverse effects
have lasted more than a year or they're likely to last more than a year a normal day-to-day tasks
in the workplace could be concentration so the employer would have to be mindful not
to discriminate the second law is the health and safety at work act
1974. this act requires employers to ensure the health safety and welfare of their workers and
they're required to do risk assessments under the management regulations from 1992 and 1999
which should include any specific risks to those that are menopausal what should risk assessments
consider then for those that are menopausal risk assessments should consider the specific needs
of those that are menopausal and ensure that the working environment will not make their
symptoms worse so it's important to recognize that creating a decent workplace is not only essential
but it does keep you on the right side of the law what if your risk assessment highlights the
need for changes in the workplace the good news is there's lots of changes that you can make that are
easy simple and affordable and if you want to know what simple and affordable changes you can make
check out my video how to introduce changes to support those going through menopause in
the workplace i'll pop the link for that video for you below let me help you have comfortable
conversations about menopause without the worry of saying or doing the wrong thing remember
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