Guidance Regarding Gender Identity and Inclusion in the Federal Workplace, March 31, 2023
single-user restrooms and other facilities corresponding to an employee’s gender identity. Agencies should not condition this access on an employee having undergone or providing proof of any gender affirming surgeries or other medical procedures. Agencies should not limit an employee to use facilities that are located at an unreasonable distance from the employee’s work station, or inconsistent with the employee’s gender identity. Agencies should not restrict any employee to a single-user facility instead of common facilities; agencies can, however, make a single-user facility available to all employees who might choose to use it. Agencies should also explore opportunities to expand the availability of all-gender restrooms and facilities in Federally owned and leased workplaces in coordination with the landholding agency with jurisdiction over the facility.
Workplace Practices to Support Transitioning Employees
Any employee’s gender transition should be treated with privacy and confidentiality in the workplace. Each agency should establish its own internal policies and procedures to support transitioning employees consistent with this Guidance, agency-specific organizational structures, and the individualized needs of the transitioning employee. Those policies should address, at a minimum, the following:
- The type of support a transitioning employee can expect from supervisors, managers, human resources personnel, and agency employee support services, such as access to Employee Assistance Programs and other employee resources;
- The provision of a central point of contact in a human resources office or another similar office charged with working with any transitioning employee who requests support; and
- A procedure that an individual employee and human resource office or similar office may use to support a workplace transition consistent with the employee’s individualized needs. The procedure could include, with the transitioning employee’s input and consent, when and which colleagues to notify of a transition; the timing for name changes and pronoun changes, where applicable and consistent with this Guidance, in email, IT systems, and employee profiles; and a process for any gender identity inclusion training for supervisors, managers, and coworkers if such training would be beneficial.
