In July, 2017, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) regulations were amended to expand protections for transgender rights in the workplace. The additional protections included making it unlawful for an employer:
- to discriminate against an individual who is transitioning, has transitioned or is perceived to be transitioning,
- to impose any appearance, grooming or dress standards inconsistent with an individual’s gender identify and gender expression,
- from making inquiries that, directly or indirectly, identify an individual on the basis of sex, gender, gender identity or gender expression,
- from making inquiries about, or require documentation or proof of an individual’s sex, gender, gender identity or gender expression as a condition of employment,
- to fail to provide equal access to comparable, safe and adequate facilities without regard to the sex of the employee.
Further, employers are required to honor an employee’s request to be identified by a preferred gender or name, or pronoun, including gender-neutral pronouns.
The DFEH regulations also require all employers in California to display the “Transgender Rights in the Workplace” poster. As with all other legally required posters, this poster should be displayed in a conspicuous place where the poster can be easily seen and read by employees and job applicants.
The DFEH mandatory poster is available in English and in Spanish.
The DFEH has indicated that it will post a version of the poster in Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
As a reminder, if ten percent or more of a company’s workforce speaks a language other than English, the poster must also be displayed in that language or languages.