EEOC Allows for Anti-Trans Bathroom Discrimination at Federal Agencies

WASHINGTON —  Today, the EEOC ruled 2-1 against a transgender federal employee who had filed a discrimination complaint after being denied access to women’s restrooms at work. The policy forbidding the employee from using the correct restroom was adopted per the President’s Executive Order 14168, which was issued last January. Today’s ruling acknowledged the lack of legal precedent for such a decision and the decision puts transgender federal employees at risk of being banned from using restrooms, locker rooms, and other private spaces that do not align with their gender identity.

In response to the ruling, HRC Senior Director of Legal Policy Cathryn Oakley released the following statement:

“Everyone should be able to go to work and support their families without facing discrimination and harassment simply because of who they are. But that kind of hostile workplace is exactly what this ruling emboldens. This green lighting of discrimination against hardworking Americans is an egregious abdication of responsibility by the EEOC, capitulation by Chair Andrea Lucas to Donald Trump's orders,  and will make the job of keeping workers safe harder everywhere. To transgender workers reading yet another in the long string of attacks on your dignity from this administration: We will not stop fighting for an America where you can go to work, get a paycheck, and make it home to put food on the table without having to fear that your ability to provide for yourselves and your family hinges on weathering discrimination and bigotry in the workplace.”

The EEOC’s decision reversed its decade-old decision in Lusardi v. McHugh, in which the EEOC found that requiring a transgender Army employee to use a single-user restroom was a violation of Title VII, and that “the harm to the Complainant goes beyond simply denying her access to a resource open to others… it perpetuated the sense that she was not worthy of equal treatment and respect… The Agency’s actions deprived Complainant of equal status, respect, and dignity in the workplace, and, as a result, deprived her of her equal employment opportunities”.  That 2015 decision itself rested on the EEOC’s prior determination in Macy v. Holder that discrimination against transgender people was prohibited discrimination under Title VII. 

The surge in attacks on workplace protections from the Trump Administration more broadly is already having devastating impacts on LGBTQ+ workers. Recent data from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation shows that LGBTQ+ workers are faring worse than their peers – and that outness is fading. 

• 57.4% of LGBTQ+ workers with employers that ended or scaled back DEI reported experiencing stigma and bias at work.
• Nearly half (47.5%) of LGBTQ+ adults report being less out somewhere in their lives over the last 12 months, including at work (26.5%)
• More than half of LGBTQ+ adults (51.1%) report being less visible than a year ago

The decision from the EEOC is the latest in the administration’s weaponization of an agency designed to keep all workers safe. President Trump began his term by firing multiple Democratic commissioners and installing a new Chair, and the Commission responded by rescinding guidance on enforcement of sex-based nondiscrimination protections and dropping multiple investigations into discrimination against LGBTQ+ workers.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people, with 3.6 million members and supporters. The HRC Foundation (a 501(c)(3)) works to ensure LGBTQ+ people are safe, seen and supported where it matters most: at school, at work and in every community across the country. From the courtroom to the classroom, from Congress to corporate America, HRC and the HRC Foundation build power through partnerships, storytelling, and action—working to create a future rooted in equity, freedom and belonging for all LGBTQ+ people.

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