Legal first in case of menopause discrimination

The first employment tribunal case involving a claim for disability discrimination where menopause symptoms are deemed to amount to a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act is to be heard following a lengthy four-year legal battle.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is supporting the claim by Maria Rooney.

Rooney, a former social worker for Leicester City Council, made a claim to the tribunal in 2019 saying she felt she had no choice but to resign from her job in October 2018.

This followed a formal warning from her employer over her absences due to menopause symptoms, anxiety, and depression.

After several preliminary hearings and an appeal, a tribunal finally decided in February 2022 that Rooney was disabled by virtue of her symptoms of menopause combined with symptoms of stress and anxiety.

Her claims of discrimination, harassment, and victimisation on the grounds of disability and sex by her employer, Leicester City Council, will now be heard by Leicester Employment Tribunal.

EHRC chair Baroness Kishwer Falkner said: “Menopause symptoms can significantly affect someone’s ability to work.

“Employers have a responsibility to support employees going through the menopause — it is to their benefit to do so, and the benefit of the wider workforce.

“Every employer should take note of this hearing”.