Sanju Pal was a high-flyer – ambitious and successful, she won the Asian Woman of Achievement Award, met the late Queen Elizabeth, had been invited to 10 Downing Street, and had a job as a management consultant with City firm Accenture.<\/p>\n
None of that mattered when she missed her performance target in 2018 after taking time off for surgery to remove two large cysts on her ovaries.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Suddenly it was taken away from me, and I became nothing.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I wasn’t a high performer anymore because I had a disability.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0My world fell apart.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
But last month the Londoner won a significant employment appeal tribunal that could affect how employers are allowed to treat employees with endometriosis.<\/p>\n
Endometriosis is a condition affecting one in 10 women in the UK, and occurs when cells similar to the ones in the lining of the womb grow elsewhere in the body.<\/p>\n
These cells can get larger and change in response to hormones in the menstrual cycle, causing pain, inflammation and scar tissue.<\/p>\n
Endometriosis is usually found on the lining of the pelvis and ovaries and can sometimes be found on the bowel or bladder or even outside of the pelvic area.<\/p>\n
There is currently no cure, and treatment is limited to pain relief and sometimes surgery.<\/p>\n
In Sanju’s case, when she was diagnosed in 2017, her severe, deep endometriosis had become a Stage 3 endometrioma, with a fluid-filled cyst 7.5cm (3in) in diameter on her left ovary, and another, smaller cyst on her right ovary.<\/p>\n
The cysts required an immediate operation and a period of recovery.<\/p>\n
After being off work for a month, Sanju returned, but it was clear she had gone back too soon.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I was in touch with HR, I was telling them how I was in pain, how I was struggling,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I was bleeding, I could barely walk, because I’d been pushing myself too much, pushing myself through the fatigue wanting to make senior manager.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
At her six-month review, and after almost 10 years as a high-flyer in her job, she was told she would not make her performance target.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I was then terminated and told to leave the building. I wasn’t allowed to contact anyone,\u00a0\u00bb she recalls.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I wasn’t a high performer anymore, according to them, because I had a disability, because I was unwell and wasn’t going to be contributing to the business in the way that I had been before.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Sanju says she felt deep shame over what had happened.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I was so sad and shocked and anxious. I didn’t feel like I could tell anyone. I literally became a shell of myself.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Sanju then lost an internal appeal, during which she disclosed further details of her condition. But the firm upheld its original decision that she could not have her job back.<\/p>\n
In addition to losing her job, she had also lost her private medical insurance, at a crucial moment in her illness.<\/p>\n
Sanju felt she had no choice but to go to an employment tribunal.<\/p>\n
In 2022 the tribunal found in her favour but decided not to pay her compensation.<\/p>\n
Sanju appealed, and in January 2026 the Employment Appeal Tribunal found the original tribunal had failed to take into account that she was a disabled person as a result of endometriosis and that she had been subject to discrimination because of her disability.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Accenture told the BBC: \u00ab\u00a0As this is an ongoing legal matter we cannot comment further at this time.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Seven years and two employment tribunals later, Sanju says she is a changed person.<\/p>\n
She still volunteers with the charity RISE, which she founded straight out of school and which connects young people in rural India with young people in London, a cause she has remained passionate about.<\/p>\n
She still plays the violin in the West London Sinfonia and hosts a podcast.<\/p>\n
But her business career has had to take a backseat while she fought for her endometriosis to be recognised as a disability.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0My heart goes out to anyone going through the employment tribunal system because it’s not easy,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
However, since doing so and sharing her journey, she has found comfort in the cause.<\/p>\n
She hopes that her case has now set the precedent for endometriosis to be recognised as a disability under the Equality Act 2010.<\/p>\n
She plans to continue to campaign for a change in the law and to continue speaking out for women with endometriosis.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The number of messages I receive from women saying ‘I couldn’t talk about this, I felt afraid to, but you’re doing it’,\u00a0\u00bb she reflects.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0And that is something.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sanju Pal was a high-flyer – ambitious and successful, she won the Asian Woman of Achievement Award, met the late Queen Elizabeth, had been invited to 10 Downing Street, and had a job as a management consultant with City firm Accenture. None of that mattered when she missed her performance target in 2018 after taking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}