The menopause is a disability, rules judge

Woman wins payout for discrimination by her bosses

A SACKED worker won a £19,000 payout and her job back after a judge ruled bosses discriminated against her – because she was going through the menopause.

Mandy Davies, a court worker, was accused of breaching health and safety regulations when she left medicine she was taking to ease her symptoms on her desk.

She took her bosses to a tribunal where she claimed she had been unfairly dismissed and a victim of discrimination.

The judge agreed, saying her menopausal condition, along with other health problems, ‘amounted to a disability’. The case is one of few in which the menopause has been judged as a disability despite being a process that all women go through.

Miss Davies, whose age is not known, was sacked last year after 20 years working at the Scottish Court and Tribunal Service. She had an impeccable employment record.

According to the tribunal judgment, she had been battling severe peri-menopausal symptoms, including heavy bleeding, anxiety, palpitations and memory loss. She became severely anaemic and also felt ‘fuzzy, emotional and lacking in concentration at times’. She also developed cystitis for which she was prescribed medicine. She would carry this in a pencil case and dilute it into a water jug on her desk in court.

One day as she returned to the court after an adjournment she saw two men drinking from her water jug. She couldn’t recall whether she had poured the medicine into the water at that stage, so alerted them to the possibility. One launched into a rant, asking whether the medicine would cause him to grow ‘boobs’.

As a result of the mix-up, Miss Davies was called to a health and safety meeting. Although this concluded there had been no medication in the water, as it would have changed colour, she was judged to have broken rules over storing her medication and knowingly misleading officials. She was also accused of showing ‘no remorse’.

This was later used in a disciplinary hearing against her and she was dismissed for gross misconduct. But at the Glasgow employment Tribunal, Judge lucy Wiseman ruled that she had been unfairly dismissed. The judge said Miss Davies had been legitimately confused over whether the medication had been in the water or not. And she said her menopause ‘amounted to a disability’ under the equality Act. The Scottish Tribunal and Court Service was ordered to pay Miss Davies £5,000 for hurt feelings, a further £14,000 for lost pay and reinstatement to her job.

An SCTS spokesman said it ‘ respects the decision of the employment Tribunal and is currently considering the judgment’.