Washington – This week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced multiple settlements that undermine the rights of transgender workers. The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) condemns these actions and EEOC’s ongoing evasion of its obligations to safeguard trans workers’ rights. NWLC remains steadfast in its work to protect trans workers from discrimination. Everyone deserves safety and dignity at work, regardless of their gender. 

One EEOC settlement involved a healthcare facility employee who refused to provide gender affirming care citing religious objections. Another involved an employee who requested a religious accommodation to misgender a transgender colleague. Both cases use religion as a shield for discrimination. A third involved a failure to provide sex-segregated facilities. Since 2002, federal appeals courts have ruled that coworkers do not have a legal basis for such claims. The EEOC itself recognized, for the past decade, that transgender workers have the right to access bathrooms and other sex-segregated facilities consistent with their gender identity, until the Trump administration backtracked it in February 2026. 

EEOC Chairwoman Andrea Lucas celebrated the settlements as wins for workers, when the message they send is anything but. 

“These settlements in three individual cases are not court decisions nor do they reflect binding interpretations of the law. Employers should not see the EEOC’s actions as a free pass to push their trans and nonbinary workers into the shadows,” says Lauren Khouri, senior director of workplace equality at NWLC. “Title VII protects trans and nonbinary workers from sex discrimination, full stop. Any act by the EEOC that undermines their rights should be seen as nothing less than a seismic erosion of everything the EEOC stands for.” 

In August, NWLC filed an appeal alongside Democracy Forward to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in FreeState Justice v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, seeking to restore federal workplace discrimination protections for trans workers. This week’s actions by the EEOC remind NWLC how important, and urgent, the fight for trans workers is. NWLC will not give up in our fight for trans workers. 

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