Recent Case Law
November 2022 - The UK’s highest menopause compensation case after being called ‘a menopausal woman’
Louise McCabe was 55 when tech CEO Jack Williams, 29 made the remark during a ‘heated exchange’ at a company meeting, an employment tribunal heard.
The 29-year-old entrepreneur viewed older people as ‘not familiar’ with the IT business and regarded finance director Mrs McCabe as ‘a menopausal woman’, a judge found.
And after she raised a series of concerns about how staff at the e-commerce firm he founded were being treated, he stripped her of her role and dismissed her. Mrs McCabe – now 57 – has been awarded £125,604 plus legal costs after successfully suing for age discrimination and unfair dismissal, having been left ‘wounded’ by her ‘discriminatory’ dismissal.
Concluding that Mrs McCabe had been the victim of age discrimination by Mr Williams, Judge Jillian Brown said: ‘On all the evidence, the tribunal decided that it could conclude that at least part of the reason for (her) dismissal was her age. At the remedy hearing, Judge Brown and the panel accepted Mrs McCabe’s evidence of being ‘indignant and wounded’ by her ‘discriminatory’ dismissal.
She continued: ‘Mrs McCabe became very distressed and lost self-confidence to the extent that she often felt unable to leave the house. She felt unable to look for work with another employer.
‘Her distress was such that she alternated between periods when she was unable to sleep and periods when she was utterly exhausted. The tribunal accepted that she was, and remains, very upset and humiliated by her dismissal.
She was visibly distressed when giving evidence about her dismissal and her subsequent feelings of desperation and lack of confidence, even in leaving her home. She continues to suffer low self-esteem and continues to feel unable to look for work elsewhere, two years after her dismissal.’
In total Mrs McCabe was awarded £125,604.98 in compensation, which included £20,000 for injury to feeling.
Selazar CEO Jack Williams told Louise McCabe ‘Not to let her hormones get out of control’. He is a perfect example of a high-risk factor facing a company. Williams is a young male in his twenties, not having any exposure or understanding of menopause, in a position of leadership and line manager authority and has clearly not had much if any, experience of dealing with menopausal employees.
Unfortunately for Selazar and Williams, his totally inappropriate remarks and his company will be forever enshrined in history within employment law when the menopause is referred. His owner led start-up business will also stand out for the wrong reasons when trying to recruit female candidates at any time in the future, making it very difficult to attract female candidates to his organisation or even retain current female employees due to this behaviour
Reminder
- This case is the highest £financial award against an employer involving menopause symptoms to date – £125,604.98
- 100% of all menopausal tribunal cases since 2018 have been successful against an employer in the UK.
- Cases have also risen up to 400% in the last 4 years and will continue to climb as 3 of the recognised 37 menopausal symptoms are recognised disabilities.
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- Companies of any size need to minimise their risk by training business owners, line managers and leaders to effectively support menopausal employees in the workplace.
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