NDP mandates period products at work

The Brandon Chamber of Commerce president says she supports the province mandating workplaces to provide free menstrual products to employees, but acknowledges it will be an extra expense for businesses.

“This is another cost that employers are having to bear the burden of,” chamber president Jennifer Ludwig said Monday.

“It’s just another thing that businesses are going to have to manage and mitigate as they move forward, given the current economy with increasing fuel costs, tariffs, trade issues, all of those sorts of things.”

Ludwig said most businesses will be open to the initiative, which goes into effect in August, but they will just have to budget accordingly.

Manitoba will be the first province in Canada to require workplaces to make menstrual products such as pads and tampons available in washrooms and other accessible locations at no cost to employees, Labour and Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino said on Monday.

“No one should have to worry about access to basic menstrual products while they are doing their job,” Marcelino said in a news release.

“Periods are a normal part of life and workplaces should reflect that reality by making sure workers have what they need.”

The regulation focuses on improving gender equity at work and reducing stigma around periods, she said.

The requirement is based on recommendations from the five-year review of the Workplace Safety and Health Act, which was completed by the Workplace Safety and Health Review Committee in January 2025.

The workplace safety and health branch will enforce compliance through existing workplace inspections.

The government estimated the annual cost of menstrual products for each employee who menstruates ranges from $10 to $25, with estimates for the initial dispenser and disposal container costs ranging from $20 to $300.

“The dispensers are not necessary for every space — even just a covered container or access maybe in another location where there is some privacy and the worker will not have to ask, like their manager, for access to like a pad or a tampon,” Marcelino said during a media scrum following question period at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

The number of products available should be adequate to help people who need access to the products at work, she said. Employees are not meant to take products home.

The change will help make life more affordable for people who purchase and bring their own menstrual products to work, said Anna Rothney, the executive director of the Manitoba Federation of Labour.

“Leaving out menstrual products discriminates against women and gender-diverse people who menstruate and so the government is correcting that problem,” Rothney said.

“It has never made any sense that Manitoba’s health and safety laws require employers to provide some of the products that we need to use the washroom — things like toilet paper and hand-washing supplies — but doesn’t require employers to provide menstrual products, which are needed by half of the workforce.”

The regulation only requires workplaces to provide free menstrual products in employee washrooms, but workplaces can choose to offer free pads and tampons in public washrooms too, Rothney said.

She expects other provinces will follow in Manitoba’s footsteps.

“I really think that within a year or two, we’re going to look back and just think it was ridiculous that there was ever a time where we asked women workers to bring their own washroom supplies to work,” Rothney said.

The federal government mandated having access to free menstrual products in workplaces it regulates in 2023.

Around 94 per cent of Manitoba employees are covered under provincial workplace safety and health requirements, a government spokesperson wrote in a statement.

The spokesperson pointed to Statistics Canada data showing 43,792 businesses in Manitoba fall under the regulations.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com, with files from The Canadian Press