Tribunal claims relating to menopause have tripled in the last two years, according to analysis of the latest case statistics.
Reviewing the tribunal statistics covering January 2025 to March 2025, overall tribunal claims continued to rise, there were 204 claims citing menopause, compared to just 64 in 2022, an increase of 319%.
Disability discrimination claims saw the biggest increase over the three-month period, said Peninsula, up almost 28% on the previous quarter. There were 2,231 claims made for disability discrimination between January and March 2025.
Redundancy pay and working time directive claims also rose significantly during the first quarter of this year, up 25% to 484 and 1,232 claims respectively.
Menopause
Teacher awarded £61k after ruling over menopause symptoms
Women’s health: a quarter ‘shamed’ into returning to work early
Overall, the employment tribunal received 42,000 single claims in the 2024-25 period, according to government figures, and disposed of 32,000. There remained 45,000 open cases at the end of March 2025, however.
There were 2,400 lead multiple cases received and 2,100 cases disposed of in 2024/25, and there were 6,800 open lead multiple claims at the end of the 2024/25 period. At the end of March, there was an open caseload of 446,000 multiple claims.
Kate Palmer, employment services director at Peninsula, said the spike in menopause-related cases should make employers take notice.
“This could partly be attributed to the definition of disability – which menopause can fall under – following the well-publicised ruling in Lynskey v Direct Line Insurance in 2023, as well as increased awareness.
“Any health condition, including menopause, may be considered a disability under the Equality Act if its symptoms cause a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the employee’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
“Since only women, and those assigned female at birth, are affected by menopause, placing an employee at a disadvantage for a women’s health issue could amount to sex discrimination or harassment. Menopause symptoms can be debilitating and, with half the working population experiencing menopause at some point in their life, it’s important for employers to take their legal requirements seriously.”
However, the figures demonstrate the intense pressure facing the employment tribunal system.
Last week, the Employment Lawyers Association called on the government to allocate more resources to the system before the Employment Rights Bill comes into force.
Rob McKellar, legal services director at Peninsula, said: “The continued rise in employment tribunal claims highlights the need for businesses to be compliant with the law.
“A particular point of interest is the rise in disability discrimination claims, which matches what we’ve been seeing lately – an increase in successful claims, especially those centring around neurodiversity.
“This highlights the risk of employers not fully understanding their obligations to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act, particularly when they aren’t as clear cut as they are for a physical disability, for example.”
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
HR business partner opportunities on Personnel Today
Browse more HR business partner jobs
