The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has warned that new federal transgender rules mean companies could be found liable for harassment if they require an employee to use a bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex.
EEOC published new guidance that details the new rules for employers, sparking a backlash.
In a rogue statement, EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, blasted the new federal rules, saying:
“Women’s sex-based rights in the workplace are under attack—and from the EEOC, the very federal agency charged with protecting women from sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination at work.
“In its new harassment guidance, the Commission formally takes the position that for both private companies and federal employers, harassing conduct under Title VII includes ‘denial of access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility consistent with [an] individual’s gender identity.’”
The new guidance, “Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace,” was published on Monday.
It outlines that “sex-based harassment” includes “intentional and repeated use of a name or pronoun inconsistent with the individual’s gender identity.”
In a press release on Monday, EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows said:
“Harassment, both in-person and online, remains a serious issue in America’s workplaces.
“The EEOC’s updated guidance on harassment is a comprehensive resource that brings together best practices for preventing and remedying harassment and clarifies recent developments in the law.
“The guidance incorporates public input from stakeholders across the country, is aligned with our Strategic Enforcement Plan, and will help ensure that individuals understand their workplace rights and responsibilities.”
The document goes on to say that “sex-based harassment” would also include “the denial of access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility consistent with the individual’s gender identity.”
In the press release, Burrows adds:
“As we commemorate this year’s 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the guidance will help raise awareness about the serious problem of harassment in employment and the law’s protections for those who experience it.”
Essentially, the new rule forces employers to allow male employees to use female-only facilities.
The EEOC had announced last year that it would update its guidance to include sexual orientation and “gender identity.”
However, the announcement sparked a backlash from state attorneys general.
Lucas, who was appointed to the EEOC by Trump in 2020, continued in her statement to blast the new rules.
She warns that “the EEOC ignores biological reality.”
“Relatedly, the Commission declares that harassing conduct includes ‘repeated and intentional use of a name or pronoun inconsistent with [an] individual’s known gender identity,’” Lucas explains.
“The Commission’s guidance effectively eliminates single-sex workplace facilities and impinges on women’s (and indeed, all employees’) rights to freedom of speech and belief.
She continued:
“In issuing this guidance, the EEOC ignores biological reality; dismisses the sex-based privacy and safety needs of women; disregards decades of safeguarding principles for women and girls; and fundamentally betrays its mission.
“Biological sex is real, and it matters.
“Sex is binary (male and female) and is immutable,” she correctly noted.
