October is World Menopause Awareness Month, which is an opportunity for U.S. employers to catch up with rapidly evolving state laws. On June 24, 2025, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee signed a first-of-its-kind state law prohibiting menopause discrimination in the workplace and requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations for menopause symptoms.
Introduced by Rhode Island Democratic Senator Lori Urso, the bill garnered wide bipartisan support. “Menopause is a difficult and personal subject that has been stigmatized in this country. But as something that affects half our population, it is time we recognize that it is a workforce issue, especially as our workforce is aging along with our population,” said Urso in a July 1, 2025 press release.
The Rhode Island law follows increasing awareness about menopause discrimination faced by women in the workplace, based on gender and age-related stereotypes. The Rhode Island law is also founded on growing evidence of the business case for supporting women workers through menopause. Investing in workplace policies addressing the challenges of menopause not only reduces legal risk, but provides companies a competitive advantage in recruiting and retaining top talent and improving brand ambassadorship.
“Our current lack of workplace protections for women going through the menopause transition is both an equity issue, contributing to inadequate retirement savings and lost leadership opportunities for our female workers, and an...
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