WORKING WHILE MENOPAUSAL

Employees in hormone flux want accommodations—and some states are granting them.

- BY BRYCE COVERT

BEFORE 2023, DANIELLE was the “workhorse” at her job in the front office of a large dental practice in Puyallup, Washington.

“I was only given positive reviews,” she told me. But after doctors found a mass in her uterus and recommended a preventive hysterectomy at age 35, everything changed.

The procedure sent her into early menopause. Caused by a drop in hormones that typically occurs after a woman's last menstrual cycle, the shift to menopause can cause a variety of symptoms. Danielle was engulfed by intense mood swings. Hormone replacement therapy helped, but not for the cognitive effects that came on later, like brain fog. “I renamed box fans into ‘air boxes’ because I just couldn't remember what a box fan was,” Danielle said. Her work suffered and she had problems getting tasks done. The more she struggled, the more stress she felt.

Danielle, who requested a pseudonym for this story because she is pursuing a legal claim against her former employer, is not alone. Each year, about 1.3 million American women transition into menopause. About 13 percent experience at least one adverse employment outcome, such as missing work or getting fired, thanks to things like uncontrollable hot flashes or intense mood swings that impede their jobs.