Unless Bostock is reversed, employers can anticipate that charges of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity will continue to be filed.
Paul O. Lopez, Esq., is chief operating office at Tripp Scott. Brittany L Hynes, Esq., is an associate at the firm.
One of the many executive orders President Donald Trump issued in recent weeks could affect how the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will view gender issues in the coming years.
Specifically, Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” calls for federal agencies to uphold laws that protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes.
EEOC falls in line
Following the order, EEOC shifted away from “gender ideology.” The agency outlined a change in sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination compliance and enforcement policy under Acting Chair Andrea Lucas, and confirmed it is removing materials on such concepts from its websites, documents, training and more.
- Announced that one of her priorities — for compliance, investigations and litigation — is to defend the “biological and binary reality of sex and related rights, including women’s rights to single-sex spaces at work.”
- Removed the agency’s “pronoun app” for network profiles, which had enabled EEOC employees to identify and display their pronouns in both internal and external communications.
- Removed the “X” gender marker for filing a discrimination charge and directed that the prefix “Mx.” be removed as an option for discrimination charges and related forms.
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