OSHA Issues New Guidelines For Providing Restroom Access To Transgender Employees
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has just released “A Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Workers.” The Guide, which is available for download at http://www.dol.gov/asp/policydevelopment/TransgenderBathroomAccessBestPractices.pdf, provides “model practices” for employers to follow when providing access to restrooms by transgender employees, chief among them:
- Employees should be permitted to determine for themselves the most appropriate (and safest) restroom to use;
- All employees should be permitted to use the facilities that correspond with their gender identity;
- No employee should be required to use a restroom facility located away or apart from other employees because of his or her gender identity or transgender status; and
- Employers may not ask employees either to provide medical or legal documentation of their gender identity in order to gain access to gender-appropriate facilities or to condition access to a particular restroom on the employees’ providing documentation demonstrating they have undergone any particular medical procedures.