A UK employment tribunal has ruled that the dismissal of 48-year-old beauty therapist Chantelle Van Vliet amounted to disability discrimination and ordered her employer to pay £32,237 in compensation. The dispute began with her request for flexible working hours to manage severe menopause symptoms.

What happened

Chantelle Van Vliet, a beauty therapist in the UK, suffered from pronounced menopause symptoms including fatigue, confusion and brain fog. To keep up with her work, she asked her employer for flexible hours. Instead of support, she was dismissed.

The tribunal found that the employer failed to provide reasonable workplace adjustments and subjected her to disability discrimination. The outcome: £32,237 in compensation.

Why this matters beyond the UK

The case shows how the labour market is gradually adapting to employees' real needs — and how companies that fail to do so pay in money and reputation. For remote and hybrid teams, including those working with international services and subscriptions, it is a reminder: schedule flexibility is not a perk, but part of normal work organisation.

A practical angle

If you work for yourself or in a distributed team, access to tools and subscriptions (SaaS, design, analytics, AI services) often depends on how you pay. Flexible hours are useless if your work tools suddenly stop accepting your card. Virtual cards for international services and crypto payments address exactly this: they help keep work subscriptions active regardless of when you actually work.

What the tribunal said

The employer failed to make reasonable adjustments, and the dismissal was found to be disability discrimination.

The takeaway is simple: companies that ignore employees' needs risk not only lawsuits but also losing people. And for professionals, it is worth remembering — asking for flexibility is not a privilege, but a legitimate question of working conditions.

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Sources

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