Tag Archive for: Protected characteristic

Menopause Not Set to Become a Protected Characteristic

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With just over 15 million women in the workplace, the last few years has seen a welcome focus on how the menopause can impact staff and what employers can do to best assist women through this stage.

Last week the Government responded to the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee report Menopause and the Workplace (July 2022). 

The report had made a number of recommendations, including:

  • introducing sex and age as a single dual protected characteristic under the Equalities Act 2010 to protect women going through menopause
  • launching a consultation on how to amend the Equalities Act 2010 to include ‘menopause’ as a new protected characteristic

What Are The Government’s Plans?

The Government’s response does not accept either of these recommendations, pointing to existing protections available for those experience menopause. This response was in many ways as expected and in accordance with previous government statements. 

However, the Government has, in part, accepted some of the Committee’s other recommendations, including the appointment of a Menopause Ambassador/Champion, a ministerial appointment within the Department for Work and Pensions; and, bringing forward legislation to make the right to request flexible working a day one employment right. 

No timetable has been announced in respect of introducing these provisions. We will keep you posted as and when the Government releases further details, and provide information of how they may affect your business.

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How Can You Best Support Staff Going Through Menopause?

You may want to consider how best to support any staff currently going through the menopause. This could include:

  • Introduce a Menopause Policy for staff. Many of you will have already done this, it is a useful way to show your support for staff, emphasise your commitment to addressing the impact of menopause and a useful way to channel any queries from staff.
  • Appoint a Menopause Champion to act as a central point of contact for staff.
  • Provide training for line managers on the symptoms of menopause and how to support and speak with staff who may be experiencing symptoms. This can be a sensitive subject and line managers are often the first point of contact for staff and may need guidance on how best to approach conversations such as this.
  • Consider what can be done to help staff experiencing the menopause, for example considering home working and adjusting working times.
  • Reviewing the working environment to ensure it is conducive to working if a member of staff is experiencing the menopause – for example, the room temperature and access to toilets.
  • Create an open and trusted environment for staff. Implementing the recommendations above will help you to do this. Menopausal symptoms can be managed in a way that supports staff to be able to continue to work in the best interests of your business.

For further information or to discuss how NQHR can help your business to support staff please contact Rachel Brodie in our team on 07881 092528.

When It All Kicks Off – Is Supporting a Football Team Considered a Philosophical Belief?

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You may have seen a recent Tribunal case involving Mr McClung – a subcontractor, and importantly for this Tribunal case, a lifelong Glasgow Rangers fan. He alleged that a manager, who was a Celtic fan, did not offer him later work due to his support of the rival Glasgow team.

What’s Considered a ‘Philosophical Belief’?

This is not the first time I have heard similar tales, and not just in Tribunal judgments. In Bob Mortimer’s brilliant autobiography, ‘And Away’, he wrote about his time in a chicken abattoir/processing plant. He was wearing the shirt of his beloved Middlesbrough and was given the worst job in the plant (it’s too stomach churning to go into the details) because his manager was a supporter of a local rival. This sort of thing does happen.

Mr McClung claimed that his support of Rangers was so strong and such an intrinsic part of his existence that it was akin to a philosophical belief. To meet the ‘philosophical belief’ threshold, a person’s belief must be:

  • genuinely held
  • not an opinion or viewpoint
  • must be a substantial aspect of human life and behaviour
  • must have a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance
  • must be worthy of respect in a democratic society and must not conflict with the fundamental rights of others

The Tribunal found Mr McClung met the first test but not the others.

I am not sure I agree with this decision, Mr McClung told the tribunal hearing that supporting Rangers is a way of life and it was as important to him as it was for Christians to attend church. I think there was probably an element of the Tribunal not wanting to open the floodgates to other similar claims.

Resolving Differences in Opinion

Importantly, just because his passion for Rangers has been found to technically not amount to a protected characteristic, it is still worth considering what the company could have done differently.

If it did identify that there was tension between a manager and subcontractor would it not have been better to try to get them to work together and to put aside any differences? You don’t necessarily need them to be best friends, just to be able to work together. These things can be achieved.

If the company had taken steps to manage the conflict it could have meant that the two people could have carried on working together and avoided a time consuming and expensive Tribunal claim. No doubt both sides would have paid their own legal costs and so the company’s ‘victory’ would still have come at a substantial cost. That might all have been avoided with better, more proactive management of this situation.

For specialist HR support with managing conflict in the workplace, please get in touch with Simon Martin on 07384 813076 in our team.