The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published new guidance that details how an employer could be found liable for harassment if they require an employee to use a bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex, sparking backlash.
“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,’” EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas said in comment provided to Fox News Digital.
The new guidance published Monday, “Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace,” outlines that “sex-based harassment” includes “intentional and repeated use of a name or pronoun inconsistent with the individual’s gender identity.”
“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,” said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows in a press release Monday. “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.”
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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,” the document goes on to say.
“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,” said Burrows in the press release.
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The EEOC had announced last year that it would update its guidance to include sexual orientation and gender identity, which sparked backlash from state attorneys general.
A new proposal by the governing board of Florida’s university systems would force university faculty to comply with state law mandating them to use school bathrooms according to their biological sex. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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Lucas, who was appointed to the EEOC by President Trump in 2020, continued in her statement 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.’ 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. 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,” she continued.
“Biological sex is real, and it matters. Sex is binary (male and female) and is immutable.”
Woman holding sign with gender pronouns and symbols near white brick wall (iStock)
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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House Monday for comment on the matter.
