Eighteen Republican-led states sued the Biden administration late Monday over new federal guidelines aimed at protecting transgender Americans from workplace discrimination.
Attorneys general from 18 states, led by Tennessee, argued in a lawsuit against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice that the federal agency’s new rules would force employers to recognize trans workers’ pronouns and allow trans employees to They argued that it was illegally forcing members to use pronouns. Go to the bathroom and dress according to your gender identity.
They argue that in doing so, the EEOC unfairly expanded Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination based on, among other things, sex.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Scumetti said in a statement Monday: “In the United States, the Constitution gives the power to make laws to elected officials, not unaccountable commissioners, and this EEOC guidance “This is an attack on the constitutional separation of powers.” “When federal agencies engage in government of the people rather than government of the people, as they do here, it undermines the legitimacy of our laws and alienates Americans from our legal system.”
The EEOC is a nonpartisan agency under the Department of Labor that was established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce anti-discrimination protections in the workplace. It is headed by five members appointed by the president, with three members from the ruling party.
In a statement, Scumetti said the new guidelines “abuse federal power to exclude women’s private space and penalize the use of biologically accurate pronouns, all at the expense of Tennessee employers.” It is built on top of that.”
In addition to Tennessee, plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and South Carolina. The states include South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
An EEOC spokesperson referred NBC News to the Department of Justice for comment. A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The EEOC’s new rules regarding trans workers are part of broader guidelines on workplace harassment that the EEOC released last month.
The 2020 Supreme Court Bostock v. Clayton guidance on workplace harassment of LGBTQ people holds that workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity constitutes sex-based discrimination prohibited under Title VII. It cites the county decision.
Eighteen attorneys general reference the landmark 2020 ruling in their lawsuits, but say they interpret the ruling differently than the EEOC. They argue that the Supreme Court did not intend to force employers to accommodate workers’ gender identity or sexual orientation. Instead, they argue, the court’s ruling is more restrictive and prevents employers from firing workers because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“Neither Title VII nor Bostock, nor any other federal case law, authorizes the EEOC to impose gender identity accommodation obligations, which ignores scrutiny of key issues and raises constitutional concerns,” the complaint states. It is written in
Earlier this month, a group of more than 20 Republican-led states, including 14 of the states that sued the EEOC on Monday, sued the Department of Education over new rules regarding protections for trans students in federally funded schools. filed a lawsuit against. And last month, a group of Republican-led states filed a similar lawsuit against the EEOC over new rules allowing workers to take leave for abortions.
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