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Medical_Insurance447 t1_j0cxezx wrote

Reply to comment by Kaz-Marie in Spanish MPs vote to approve new 'menstrual leave' for painful periods by mancinedinburgh

I don't think comparing a menstrual cycle to a disability is going to do you any favors in regards to public opinion on this matter.

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Kaz-Marie t1_j0cxt3u wrote

That's why I said it was a similar mechanism of access, not the same. I do know that, for some folks, the pain they experience from periods is so debilitating that they have had to get disability accommodations for it, so it's not an entirely irrelevant comparison for everyone. Generally periods are manageable, but folks who experience debilitating pain during theirs should have access to adequate accommodations such as this policy.

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Medical_Insurance447 t1_j0cyl76 wrote

Gotcha. Thank you for clarifying, and I apologize for any over-simplification or misunderstanding on my part.

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aKnightWh0SaysNi t1_j0dcw7x wrote

Letting somebody not work isn’t an accommodation. People should be paid to work.

Disability exists to compensate people who cannot.

If menstrual leave is given to people who cannot work for a few days every month like clockwork, it isn’t fair to ask the company to pay for that.

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Kaz-Marie t1_j0deehz wrote

Then what is an alternative solution you propose to accommodate those who are debilitated by menstrual pain and cannot work during those days?

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aKnightWh0SaysNi t1_j0df282 wrote

A program similar to disability where the burden of paying for the financial impact of their lack of predictable availability and productivity be shouldered by taxes, not by employers.

Someone needing this time off every month results in the employer receiving their salary from the government times 1.something to offset the major inconvenience of hiring someone with that requirement.

Otherwise, nobody will want to employ them.

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Kaz-Marie t1_j0dguts wrote

I appreciate the thoughtful response, that sounds like an excellent solution as well. I'm glad that the conversation around this is starting, as so many of us have been gaslit or flat out not believed when asking for help with menstrual pain accommodations - when I was a kid, it took me throwing up all over the floor in high school from pain for them to even consider letting me go home to rest. I hope the culture around forcing folks to work at normal capacity during intense periods can start to be dismantled.

For the method that Spain will be trying out, I trust (for now) their solid anti-descrimination laws around the workplace to prevent hiring descrimination. The US doesn't have as good protections in the same sense so I think a government based program like you suggested would work better here - anecdotally, employers here have been awful to my peers who have debilitating periods.

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