California has some new regulations that have been approved during the past year by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. These regulations expand workplace protections for transgender and gender variant people.

The regulations are in California Code of Regulations, Title 2, sections 11030, 11031, and 11034.

Under the new rules, employers must give transgender and gender-nonconforming employees access to restrooms, showers and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity. Businesses must allow employees to go by their preferred name and pronouns — even if their name hasn’t yet been legally changed — and the rules outlaw discrimination against individuals in the process of transitioning, or beginning to live outwardly as the gender with which the person identifies.

The DFEH’s regulation adds a definition for “transitioning,” to protect employees or potential employees if discriminated against while transitioning.

Employers may not request an employee to disclose information related to sex, including gender, gender expression, or gender identity, unless it is requested on a voluntary basis for recordkeeping purposes.

Further, employers cannot inquire about or request documentation or proof of someone’s gender, gender expression, gender identity, or sex.

Other notable expanded rights in the new regulations include those related to work conditions and job performance. Employers must allow employees to use facilities that correspond with their gender identity or gender expression, not the sex assigned to them at birth. Further, single-occupancy facilities under the employer’s control must be labeled with gender neutral terms such as “Unisex, Gender Neutral or All Gender Restroom.”

For job performance, employers must allow employees to carry out duties that correspond with the person’s gender expression or gender identity, not the sex assigned to the person at birth.

Unless the business can make the case for why it is an absolute necessity, managers may not impose any grooming or dress standards on a person inconsistent with that individual’s gender identity or gender expression.

Where we have seen this come up as an issue a lot is when someone is nonconforming, but they may be perceived their gender expression is male, and then they’re being told they need to ascribe to a certain standard of male dress code. What this policy says is there needs to be accommodations for that. A conversation needs to happen where the employee can decide what uniform makes sense for them.

--Clair Farley, SF LGBT Center

According to a 2008 report by the Transgender Law Center, the most recent of its kind, 1 in 4 transgender Californians surveyed reported earning wages below the national poverty line. For transgender people of color, rates of discrimination, unemployment and poverty rise across the board.

You have trans folks of color, folks with disabilities, there can be a lot of barriers to finding employment. When folks transition on the job, they tend to leave their workplace — whether voluntarily or not — and that can really increase their risk for continued unemployment.

--Farley

Often, when large employers have to comply with California requirements, they extend those practices to their offices in other parts of the country. It’s very likely that these regulations will be reviewed by other states looking to do similar things.

--Rick Zbur, Equality California