Page 50 - Urban Kapital Magazine Autumn 21

MARIA ROONEY’S SUCCESSFUL
TRIBUNAL APPEAL:
A PRECEDENT FOR OTHER WOMEN EXPERIENCING
MENOPAUSE DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE?
Following two years of Tribunals, hearings and
appeals. Maria Rooney can finally see a light at
the end of the tunnel in her Tribunal case.
Maria was employed by Leicester City Council for
12 years as a childcare social worker, she
resigned from her role in October 2018. Ms Roon-
ey says she had experienced workplace bullying
and discrimination, at the same time, she was
struggling with physical, mental, and
psychological effects resulting from menopause.
Ms Rooney had been prescribed Hormone
Replacement Therapy, and she was being
medically treated for her symptoms.
She told us:
“I have been a Social Worker for 20 years and
worked for Leicester City Council for 12 yrs. I was
a highly experienced and qualified Social Worker
who was highly respected and regarded by my
colleagues, other professionals and my local
community. I loved my job and I loved working
with vulnerable, complex, high risk young people
trying to keep them safe and get them on the right
path in life. Unfortunately, I started to experience
bullying, harassment and victimisation in the
workplace which eventually led to me going off
sick with work related stress”.
Maria says she was made to feel embarrassed
when faced with discussing her menopause with a
male line manager and an all-male panel at work.
The Tribunal heard that one manager told her
that: he ‘also gets hot in the office’ when Ms Roon- with the decision she was not a disabled person at
ey mentioned she was suffering from hot flushes.
Maria says:
“I was experiencing peri-menopausal symptoms
at the same time. When I returned to work, I was
MAGAZINE // 50 sympathetic, or understanding and he issued me
allocated a new line manager, but he was not very
with a formal written warning for being off sick
which I tried to appeal. My appeal was made to an
all-male panel”.
Whilst the Employment Tribunal (ET) did not strike
out Ms Rooney’s first claim. it held that Ms Roon-
ey’s menopausal symptoms were not sufficiently
serious to be considered a disability and her claim
of sex discrimination had no reasonable prospect
of success, so dismissed her second claim.
However, in order for someone to be disabled
under s6 of the Equality Act 2010, they must have
a physical or mental impairment that has a
substantial and long-term adverse effect on their
ability to carry out normal day to day activities.
‘Long term’ is usually considered to be 12 months
or more for employment law purposes.
Maria describes how she was personally affected
by menopause and how it impacted her work. She
feels that women should be given more support
and consideration in the workplace to
accommodate the debilitating effects menopause
can have on some women.
“I was experiencing anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, low
mood, irritability, mood swings, brain fog, confu-
sion, memory loss - I was forgetting people’s
names and forgetting to attend meetings and
appointments. I was really struggling in the
workplace but there was a lack of support and
I felt that everyone had turned against me and
wanted me out.”
Maria appealed against the dismissal and strike
out of her claims. On appeal, the EAT held that the
ET had made an error in law. The EAT disagreed
the relevant time, and said the ET were wrong to
dismiss her disability and sex discrimination,
harassment, and victimisation claims.
It was noted that, in her evidence, Ms Rooney had
toms (which the ET agreed), and that they had
stated both her physical and non-physical symp-
failed to provide a careful factual analysis in de-
ciding whether Ms Rooney was disabled.