PMOS and the Missing Pieces in Workplace Health Policy

In our Legally Blonde era…

Today, after 15 years working in relatively corporate, certainly male-dominated, environments I said – out loud – to an HR colleague that I have PMOS. Naturally, they had no idea what that meant, and frankly it wasn’t the moment to explain it, but I finally felt I could shake the stigma and speak up on behalf of myself - and all of us.

So why only now? Is it because we’re women and we just get the fuck on with things, grinning and baring, carrying the load and probably working at a higher capacity / tolerance than men? Sure, probably. But are we not just a product of our environments too? Has anyone ever given you much option at work to do anything else, or have you felt like you need to work doubly hard to get half as far? For me personally, there are some wonderful people who do care and do want to help at my workplace and I’m sure there are many more peppered throughout workplaces nationwide too. But when it comes to anything set within a policy, written into a contract or even remotely mentioned at a more formal (or even personal) level in the workplace, poof it’s all good and gone!

So, I’ve done a bit of digging so you don’t have to. Keep reading to explore what the picture looks like legally, find out what this mean for you, what you can reasonably ask for, and what the future might start to look like for us all…

The legal picture in the UK

Short answer: there is no specific legal right tied to PMOS by name. However, if your PMOS counts as a ‘disability’ (a far-reaching term covering off many conditions) you may have more rights. Disability and discrimination protection within the Equality Act 2010 (maybe time for an update boys?) covers a ‘physical or mental impairment’ that must have a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. If this is the case, your employer has an automatic legal duty to make adjustments for you, and cannot discriminate against you.

Does that apply to those of us with PMOS? Yes. Do we go around saying we have a disability? Possibly not…

If you feel like you don’t reach that threshold, you still have a general right to request flexible working, but this is at their discretion.

Sick pay follows the same general rules as any other illness – there’s no special category or extra allowance in the UK due to hormonal, menstrual or related conditions. DESPITE us making up about half of the workforce. Seems fair.

So, in short, the law only really protects you depending on the ‘severity’ of your condition. Having the condition alone isn’t enough. Sigh. And, not to labour the point too much, but us women are hard so we probably will just crack on.

What can you ask for?

Don’t follow my lead and wait it out too long. As hard as it may be, it will only benefit you (and probably your fellow female colleagues) to raise this in a conversation with the relevant person in charge sooner rather than later. Try not to frame it as a legal demand, and instead suggest some reasonable adjustments that may already be recognised due to other conditions. For example:
- flexible hours for fatigue, medical appointments or extra hard days
- (if applicable to your role) the option to work from home
- review of absence – requesting that recurring absence due to your PMOS is considered differently from other sick days, especially if you’re concerned about using up all your paid sick leave
- occupational health! Do not forget to ask about this, most large companies will be able to offer an assessment to support a disability case (again though, that specific yet vague label)

You’d really hope it would never get to this point, but worth noting while I’m getting all Legally Blonde on you, you don’t actually have to ‘prove’ you have a disability, and no disclosure of a condition is needed to request adjustments. However, if your employer genuinely doubts you meet the disability threshold it would go to tribunal (honestly just quit at this point please).

Taking a brief pause here to SCREAM and say that the barriers for women, especially those with PMOS or other conditions, isn’t actually bureaucratic paperwork or diagnosis gatekeeping… it’s actually the fact that we have to, once again, sit in a room with someone who doesn’t understand how we feel or what we’re going through, and convince them that what we’re saying is true, and that ‘just having’ a hormonal condition deserves to be taken as seriously as any other illness.

The future

Dare I say that this feels like a genuinely live moment (again, only referencing the UK for now, sorry gals)…

As of April 2027, a new legal requirement comes into force. Unfortunately, it’s only for companies of 250+ employees, but it’s a promising step in the right direction. For the first time EVER in the UK, legislation will cover peri-menopause and menopause support in the workplace, a genuine first for a women’s health adjustment. But it doesn’t stop there, employers can also voluntarily (why?) extend this to benefit employees with other menstrual health conditions that impact their wellbeing and disadvantages them in the workplace - including PMOS, fibroids and endometriosis. No mention of PMDD or Amenorrhea however.

Crucially, and sadly, this is not a given and once again it might be up to you to have to request this with your workplace, but having the knowledge about this legality may help move things along. Stay tuned for what my own workplace say!

(Also, lolz side note, they’re chucking this into the same guidance for companies to produce and publish data on gender pay gaps. It’s literally like someone’s gone “oh right so yes let’s help the girls with all their girlie issues.” Help.)

The global picture

Spain were the first European country to finallyyyy offer paid statutory menstrual leave, in 2023 (approximately one thousand billion years after the womb was created). By 2025, six other countries – Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, Zambia and Vietnam – had some form of menstrual leave policy. It’s an international conversation, and yet nothing similar in the UK?

Our latest prime minister Andy Burnham (another man yey!) announced recently that again from April 2027 (big month for us) women and their partners who experience miscarriage before 24 weeks (again why the weird timeline here?) are entitled to a whopping two weeks bereavement leave. I shouldn’t be cynical – progress is progress I guess, but how have we only just got here and why does it still feel so token-istic?

The PMOS Picture

The pattern here – whether it’s menopause, miscarriage or PMOS – is the same. Each condition has to fight individually for basic recognition. We’re often left feeling like it’s not bad enough, that we’re not sick enough or that we’re not brave enough to fight the fight on our own.

But fluctuating symptoms, fatigue, mental health impact, pain, brain-fog etc. etc. etc... don’t they deserve specific workplace policy?

We deserve lines in a contract, sections in a handbook, manager training and employee awareness.

We shouldn’t have to start from zero every single time, forcing ourselves to once more stand up and fight for our basic rights because, well, no one else really seems to be.