by Michelle Lee Flores and Brett Nicole Taylor
California employers need to be in compliance with the state’s new “all-gender” requirements for single-use restrooms by March 1.
Assembly Bill 1732 requires all single-user toilet facilities in any business establishment, place of public accommodation, or local government agency in California to be identified as an all-gender restroom. Thus, if a California business has a toilet facility with no more than one water closet and one urinal with a lock controlled by the user, signage on the restroom must indicate that it’s an all-gender facility. California’s all-gender restroom law is one of many recent state laws addressing restroom rights for members of the transgender community.
In addition, federal agencies have released guidance on the issue. Under the Obama administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission declared that transgender employees are protected against sex-based discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Also, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration published guidance on transgender employees’ restroom access that states that all employees, including transgender employees, should have access to restrooms that correspond to their gender identity.
For more information on California’s restroom law and other new laws, see the December 26, 2016, issue of California Employment Law Letter.
Michelle Lee Flores and Brett Nicole Taylor are attorneys with Cozen O’Connor in Los Angeles and contributors to California Employment Law Letter. Flores may be reached at mflores@cozen.com, and Taylor may be reached at btaylor@cozen.com.