Even as students at the University of Washington call for more gender-neutral restrooms on campus, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued guidelines regarding restroom access for transgender workers.
The guide sets forth the core principle that all employees should be able to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity, and that “it is essential for employees to be able to work in a manner consistent with how they live the rest of their daily lives.”
OSHA’s four-page guide, released June 1, comes in the wake of several national incidents in which transgender adults and youth were prevented from using the restroom that fit their gender identity or were restricted to separate facilities.
The guide stresses that such practices “[single] those employees out and may make them fear for their physical safety,” which quickly becomes a matter of health and safety when employees begin avoiding the restroom altogether.
A 2011 report by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force found that 22 percent of those surveyed had been denied access to restrooms that were appropriate for their gender identity on the job.
According to the guide, best practices allow employees to determine which option is best for them when restrooms are categorized male or female, without providing any legal or medical documentation. And though OSHA said best practices are to provide additional options, such as single or multi-use gender-neutral restrooms, employees should not be required to use them.
Patricia Lally, director of Seattle’s Office for Civil Rights, said the federal guidelines reinforce what is already protected by the city’s local ordinance. Seattle added civil rights protection for people based on gender identity in 1999, while the Washington Law Against Discrimination added sexual orientation and gender identity in 2006.
“Bathroom access consistent with a person’s gender identity is a fundamental right,” Lally said. “To have backing from a federal government agency provides important support more broadly to our work.”
She said the office has not received any recent complaints regarding restroom access, although a 2007 incident gained media attention when two transgender individuals were kicked out of a men’s restroom downtown and escorted from the building.
Controversial “bathroom bills” that make it a crime to enter a restroom that does not match a person’s biological sex at birth have come forth in several states, despite mounting federal support for restroom access based on gender identity.
An April ruling from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that the Army illegally discriminated against a transgender employee by restricting restroom access, while the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Department of Labor’s OSHA have partnered to promote the new guidelines and educate the public.
Anyone who believes they have been discriminated against should call the Seattle Office for Civil Rights at 206.684.4500.