The authorities has rejected requires a trial of menopause depart for ladies, claiming that it may trigger discrimination in opposition to males with long-term medical circumstances.
Ministers additionally rejected a advice to make menopause a protected attribute beneath the Equalities Act.
Caroline Nokes, chair of the ladies and equalities committee – which submitted 12 suggestions geared toward giving working girls extra rights in a report final July – accused the federal government of a “complacent” response.
The Tory MP added that the federal government had ignored a “significant evidence base” that the menopause needs to be a protected attribute.
A survey final 12 months discovered one in 10 girls who labored through the menopause had left a job as a consequence of their signs, whereas others had decreased their hours, gone part-time, or not utilized for promotion.
The authorities rejected 5 of the committee’s recommendations on Tuesday, arguing that the proposal for a menopause depart coverage could be “counterproductive” and that it was additionally cautious of making “discrimination risks towards men suffering from long-term medical conditions, or eroding existing protections”.
The authorities mentioned: “We are focusing our efforts on disseminating best practice and encouraging employers to implement workplace menopause policies and other forms of support such as flexible working, which can play a vital role in supporting people to remain in work.”
Ms Nokes’ letter to well being minister Maria Caulfield referred to as it a “missed opportunity to protect vast numbers of talented and experienced women from leaving the workforce, and leaves me unconvinced that menopause is a government priority”.
She mentioned there needs to be “urgent action” to handle girls’s wants, however progress has been “glacial” and the federal government’s response has been “complacent”.
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A authorities spokesperson added that it recognised the problem menopause poses for ladies and that the first-ever girls’s well being technique in England exhibits girls’s well being “is at the top of the agenda”.
They urged employers to be “compassionate and flexible” to employees’ wants and mentioned the federal government supported “making flexible working the default” and was dedicated to lowering the price of HRT prescriptions.
Source: information.sky.com”
