In one of its first moves with a new Republican-majority quorum, the EEOC voted to rescind Biden-era guidance that outlined legal protections for gender identity and sexual orientation-related harassment and discrimination.
Background: The Biden EEOC issued the guidance in 2024 – the first new harassment and discrimination guidance issued by the Commission since 1999 – which primarily focused harassment and discrimination related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
- The non-legally binding guidance addressed a variety of workplace behaviors that could be unlawful under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, including a refusal to use preferred pronouns and denying bathroom access consistent with gender identity.
Guidance rescinded: Chair Lucas joined fellow Republican Commissioner Panuccio in voting to rescind the guidance, while lone Democrat Commissioner Kotagal opposed. The rescission was telegraphed by Chair Lucas last year, and is part of a broader Trump administration campaign to reduce legal protections on the basis of gender identity.
- Chair Lucas has maintained that the guidance could endanger women because it enabled access to facilities based on gender identity, and that consistently misgendering an individual, among other positions outlined by the guidance, was not in fact unlawful under Title VII.
- Chair Lucas was adamant that rescinding the guidance will not cause employees to “lose any rights or remedies” and said that concerns over the same were simply “confusion and fearmongering.”
The bottom line: The guidance was never legally binding and did not create any new legal obligations for employers, and therefore its rescission does not remove any such obligations.
Considerations for employers:
