Should my employer help me to cope with PMS?

Yes.

Employers should provide support for PMS sufferers, but few do so. Developing recognition of PMS among UK employers and unions is a high priority for NAPS.

NAPS says employers should:

• Designate someone to provide advice and support. Personnel departments could raise awareness by posting PMS advice with other employment information on company intranets. This could cover PMS symptoms, when they are likely to occur and how they might affect work, together with suggested ways to cope and how to adapt work to the needs of the employee when it becomes necessary.
• Your employer should review the way it looks after staff who are off sick, to help encourage PMS sufferers to work more flexibly if necessary, without losing working time.
• Some unions provide basic healthcare guides for PMS sufferers, advising women to contact their local union rep for advice. See Usdaw's guide to Pre-menstrual syndrome and period pains.