EEOC says workplace bias laws cover bathrooms, pronouns and abortion

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.

EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows in an interview said the guidance reflects decades of court rulings that have expanded workers’ rights to be free from workplace harassment, and that updating it was necessary to ensure that employers are aware of their legal obligations.

“We felt we really needed to lay out the contours of the law and where it stands,” said Burrows, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden.

The Democrat-led commission approved the guidance in a 3-2 vote on Friday, with