New OSHA Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Employees

15 posts / 0 new

Wed, 2015-06-03 08:46

abnormal

Quote:
[b]New OSHA Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Employees[/b]

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced new guidelines today to ensure that all employees have access to restrooms that correspond to their gender identity.

OSHA's “Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Workers” follows the establishment of an alliance formed between OSHA and the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) in early May of this year. The guidelines cover the basics of gender identity and clarify the importance of equal restroom access as a means to preserve health and safety for all employees. NCTE will be working with OSHA to promote these guidelines and educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities surrounding restroom access over the next two years.

“OSHA is making clear that denying something basic as restroom access to transgender workers is not only an assault on dignity and their rights, but a threat to their health as well,” said NCTE policy director Harper Jean Tobin. "All employers should take note, and workers should use this document as another tool to assert their rights."

[i]etc ...[/i]

http://www.transequality.org/blog/new-osha-guide-to-restoom-access-for-t...

Fri, 2015-07-03 11:08

abnormal

Rather than start a new thread I thought I'd just add this here

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/justice-dept-sides-with-tr...

Quote:

The U.S. Justice Department has sided with a transgender teenager who alleges that a Virginia school board’s restroom policy is discriminatory.

Gavin Grimm, a 16-year-old rising junior, filed a lawsuit against the Gloucester County, Va., school system with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union claiming that he should be allowed to use the school system’s communal restrooms and not “alternative” facilities just for transgender students. Grimm was born female and identifies as male.

In a statement of interest filed Tuesday, the Justice Department argues that the Gloucester County school board’s policy violates Grimm’s rights, and federal officials are seeking to ensure that “all students, including transgender students, have the opportunity to learn in an environment free of sex discrimination.”

[i]etc ...[/i]

BTW, this is consistent with the position taken by the US Department of Education.

Fri, 2015-07-03 14:06

lagatta

I was glad to see two new single-access toilets at Jean-Talon Market. These are accessible for disabled people and have a baby-changing table, and bear both the man and woman symbols.

Sat, 2015-07-04 06:06

abnormal

lagatta wrote:

I was glad to see two new single-access toilets at Jean-Talon Market.

It's always good to see but for the record those would not satisfy the requirements of the US Department of Education, the Department of Justice, or OSHA, all of which require access to the washroom that corresponds to the individual's gender. In fact, Nicole Maines sued her school because they forced her to use a unisex bathroom (and she won).

Sat, 2015-07-04 11:55

Pondering

abnormal wrote:

lagatta wrote:

I was glad to see two new single-access toilets at Jean-Talon Market.

It's always good to see but for the record those would not satisfy the requirements of the US Department of Education, the Department of Justice, or OSHA, all of which require access to the washroom that corresponds to the individual's gender. In fact, Nicole Maines sued her school because they forced her to use a unisex bathroom (and she won).

That's great but it doesn't solve the problem for those who don't identify with either gender. They need gender neutral washrooms. The baby changing tables are also important as more men take on childcare duties.

Transgender people should have the right to use whichever washroom they choose to but I expect some transmen and effeminate gays in particular might appreciate unisex washrooms as some men's washrooms can be dangerous for anyone who doesn't conform.

Sat, 2015-07-04 16:12

abnormal

Understood - my point was just that the provision of single access toilets doesn't satisfy US law.

Sat, 2015-07-04 17:19

Mr. Magoo

Why don't we just have one big washroom for everyone. One big room with (say) 10 stalls and 10 sinks, or 20 stalls and 20 sinks, or whatever.

No more "potty parity" issues. No more "appropriate" washroom issues. Just a single resource for everyone, like water fountains.

And all we have to do is abandon the fiction that we don't poop.

Sat, 2015-07-04 18:02

Pondering

Mr. Magoo wrote:

Why don't we just have one big washroom for everyone. One big room with (say) 10 stalls and 10 sinks, or 20 stalls and 20 sinks, or whatever.

No more "potty parity" issues. No more "appropriate" washroom issues. Just a single resource for everyone, like water fountains.

And all we have to do is abandon the fiction that we don't poop.

Everyone knows we all poop. The point of women's washrooms is safety, from men who would attack but also from those who would be putting cameras under stalls, leering at us or making off color jokes or coming on to us. It's one thing to have that happen in a public area, it's another to have it happen when you are about to pull your pants down. The "public" part of women's bathrooms provides a buffer zone of safety. Trans women being forced into male washrooms exposes them to a significantly increased risk of violence both physical and verbal.

Sat, 2015-07-04 18:30

6079_Smith_W

And the other problem of guys (usually, but not exclusively) who piss all over the toilet seat.

I like gender-neutral bathrooms (and the safety problem is solved if it is a single toilet with a locking door) but I know at a couple of events I have attended there have been women-only port-a-potties because of the filth problem. Personally, I never sit down on those things, especially after dark when you can't see.

Sat, 2015-07-04 18:42

#10

Mr. Magoo

Quote:
And the other problem of guys (usually, but not exclusively) who piss all over the toilet seat.

At home it probably is the guys who hit the seat, since women are likely to sit on the seat.

As I understand it, in public many women choose to "hover" (read: stand) and the result is what you might expect from that.

Quote:
but I know at a couple of events I have attended there have been women-only port-a-potties because of the filth problem.

Really? How did that solve the identical problem of women standing??

Sat, 2015-07-04 18:47

#11

Pondering

Mr. Magoo wrote:

Quote:
And the other problem of guys (usually, but not exclusively) who piss all over the toilet seat.

At home it probably is the guys who hit the seat, since women are likely to sit on the seat.

As I understand it, in public many women choose to "hover" (read: stand) and the result is what you might expect from that.

Quote:
but I know at a couple of events I have attended there have been women-only port-a-potties because of the filth problem.

Really? How did that solve the identical problem of women standing??

Who says women have the identical problem? There is such a thing as being careful.

Sat, 2015-07-04 19:34

#12

Mr. Magoo

Quote:
Who says women have the identical problem? There is such a thing as being careful.

Indeed. For both men and women. But from what I've read, neither side has a meaningful advantage in this regard.

But I'm open to hearing from other women on this. Your seats are always clean, then?? That's just not what I've heard, is all.

ed'd to add: Careful isn't even necessary. From the context of a clean or nasty seat, it doesn't matter what your physiology is -- you can have the accuracy of a popped water balloon -- if you can spare 0.5 seconds to lift the seat, and assuming you're willing to contaminate your purity to do so.

Sat, 2015-07-04 19:35

#13

6079_Smith_W

Mr. Magoo wrote:

Really? How did that solve the identical problem of women standing??

Squatting, you mean? Well if you have the foresight to lift the lid then you don't hit the seat.

At least then they can't blame it on the guys, though honestly, I think it is a good idea, because 19 times out of 20 it probably is a guy who just doesn't care.

Sat, 2015-07-04 20:08

#14

Mr. Magoo

Quote:
Squatting, you mean?

Given the height of most people's knees, and the height of the rim of a toilet, I'll stick with "standing". Or (to be diplomatic) maybe we could go with "not sitting on the seat as intended"?

Anyway...

I hope this anecdote doesn't reinforce the (silly) notion that men don't care while women do, but over 20 years ago I used a university washroom and was in there with another dude who did his business, washed his hands, dried them, and then left. Left THE SINK RUNNING. Because to have touched that faucet with even his elbow would surely have infected him with Ebola.

No, I don't think men are the only ones who are like this.

Yes, I do think many people are like this.

That's why some public washrooms have those ridiculous "ass gasket" dispensers. Because if you touch a surface some other human touched before you YOU COULD DIE!!

Sat, 2015-07-04 20:38

#15

6079_Smith_W

That, and it is actually healthier for you (squatting, not standing, and the two are quite different), and it is how public toilets are built in a good many places in the world.

And it is one thing to use a shiny plastic port a potty; quite another to use a rough, unpainted outhouse.

As for this littel difference of opinion, I think we'll just agree to disagree.