EEOC says workplace bias laws cover bathrooms, pronouns and abortion
The EEOC said employers refusing to use transgender workers’ preferred pronouns and barring them from using bathrooms that match their gender identity amounts to unlawful workplace harassment under federal anti-discrimination law.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday said employers refusing to use transgender workers’ preferred pronouns and barring them from using bathrooms that match their gender identity amounts to unlawful workplace harassment under federal anti-discrimination law.
The EEOC updated its enforcement guidance on workplace harassment for the first time in 25 years, including to reflect a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that anti-bias laws cover LGBTQ workers, after an earlier attempt stalled during the Trump administration.
The commission in the new guidance also addressed the rise of remote work and said that discriminating against employees based on their decisions to have abortions or use contraception is a form of sex discrimination.
The guidance is not legally binding, but lays out a blueprint for how the EEOC will enforce anti-bias laws and can be cited in court to back up legal arguments.
Some Republicans and conservative and religious groups had criticized the expansive guidance after the commission unveiled a draft version in September. They said it conflicts with state laws on abortion and LGBTQ issues and fails to acknowledge that religious employers are exempt from anti-discrimination laws in many cases.
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