Typist sued law firm over boss’s menopause remarks

A TYPIST at a law firm who was told she had shared “too much information” when discussing her menopause symptoms with her male boss sued for sex discrimination.

Anne-marie Mcmahon described “unbearable” hot flushes which made her feel “like I have the flu” in an email sent to senior lawyer Ronald Pundick.

Explaining her recent absences from work, the mother of two also explained she had undergone intimate examinations, but received a reply saying she had given “too much information” from the senior partner.

Ms Mcmahon claimed the response meant she was reluctant to discuss the menopause with her bosses at Manchester law firm Rothwell & Evans.

She launched sex and disability discrimination claims after being sacked for her “alarming” number of absences.

However, an employment tribunal has now ruled that though it considered her menopausal symptoms a disability, she had not been discriminated against but had been dismissed in May 2019 due to her “unreliability” in a new role.

Pauline Feeney, an Employment Judge, said: “Ms Mcmahon was dismissed because of a combination of absences, short notice absences and a failure to advise Rothwell & Evans of a continuing absence in the context of her new role.

“Her absence levels were alarming between January and May in the context of the role she now had to perform.

“Essentially, in this job reliability was critical and she became unreliable.”

The Manchester tribunal heard Ms Mcmahon began working as a typist at the firm of solicitors, which deals mainly with conveyancing and personal injury litigation, in September 2017.

The tribunal was told Ms Mcmahon, who is a single mother to a son and a daughter, was absent on several days in 2018 for a variety of reasons.

These included “stomach problems”, which a sick note she provided stated were “actually menopausal”.