OSHA’s Stance on the Potty Issue
One of the most volatile hot-button stories of 2016 has sparked fierce debate over the past several months and appears to be picking up momentum. If you are an employer, you should be interested in OSHA’s stance on how to handle the debate involving restroom use by transgender workers. Could maintaining the restroom status quo lead to an OSHA citation?
OSHA’s stance
It should be little surprise to learn that OSHA is a steadfast supporter of transgender workplace rights because of OSHA’s “Transgender Restroom Access Guide” (view news release) published last year.
“The core principle is that all employees, including transgender employees, should have access to restrooms that correspond to their gender identity,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels.
OSHA’s sanitation standard (29 CFR 1910.141) requires employers to provide ready access of toilet facilities to workers without unreasonable restrictions, and OSHA is poised to use the standard against employers who refuse to accommodate transgender workers appropriately.
Social issues, coupled with the specter of OSHA enforcement, could likely change architectural paradigms for public and commercial building design. Banks of single-occupancy toilets rather than the traditional men and women restrooms could become the new norm.
In the meantime, Human Resources departments will need to address this issue with reasonable accommodations that address bathroom use by all workers. In OSHA’s view, creating a separate bathroom for transgender individuals is not an acceptable accommodation because it views such practices as singling out transgender workers based on gender identity.