“Menopause For Thought” today!
The Women & Equalities Committee of the House of Commons has published its response to an independent report proposing various changes to employment law and practice to help women going through menopause.
Most of the recommendations are NOT being adopted by the government. They included producing model menopause policies for employers; not sure many use them at present, though we have helped a few clients with them recently and our view is they are a good idea for lots of different reasons.
It has also declined to commission a pilot project with a large national employer on ‘menopause leave’, and most significantly, declined to amend the Equality Act 2010 to introduce a new protected characteristic of menopause, or introduce a new duty to make reasonable adjustments for menopausal employees.
But, on a more positive note, it is apparently going to be supporting one proposal, namely introducing a national ‘Menopause Employment Champion’ designed to produce a report every six months on the progress made to support those going through the menopause.
Some might say that’s not nearly enough progress on an important issue but we are sure individuals will have very different views on the matter.