The higher courts have not entirely answered this question yet, though laws and agency guidance throughout the nation is heading in a definite direction. Some states, like Florida and Utah, have attempted, and failed, to pass laws requiring employees to use the bathroom of the sex they were born. On the other hand, Colorado, Iowa, and Vermont, require employers to allow employees to use the restroom of the gender they identify with. In April 2015, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) found that a transgender female that had informed her employee of her gender identity, must be allowed to use the bathroom of the gender with which she identifies. Additionally, in 2014 President Obama signed an executive order prohibiting discrimination against LGBT federal employees and contractors. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers to provide bathrooms to employees for health reasons. OSHA also requires that employers not place unreasonable restrictions on bathroom use. OSHA has found that when employers limit which bathrooms transgender employees may use, the employees may suffer psychological damage. Furthermore, the discrimination may embarrass employees so much that they will refuse to use bathrooms at work, which could cause physical harm. The recent guidelines from OSHA require that transgender people have access to bathrooms that match the gender with which they identify. OSHA further requires that that employees be able to work in a manner that is consistent with their everyday lives based on their gender identity, regardless of whether the employee has actually transformed his or her sex. That said, OSHA has not placed requirements on employer bathroom policies regarding transgender individuals, rather, they have merely suggested actions employers should take, including: Allow the employees to use the bathroom designated for the gender that they associate with Provide unisex bathrooms for all employees, and Do not require employees to affirmatively tell their employer which gender they identify with. OSHA recently provided a “Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Workers” to help aid with some of the more practical challenges and questions of how to best address the needs of transgender employees. While the suggestions above can help combat some of the challenges surrounding bathrooms, OSHA guidelines are clear to state that employers may not require that transgender employees exclusively use these restrooms. The 4th Circuit on March 27, 2015 held in the case of Lusardi v. Dep’t of Army that denying an employee equal access to a common restroom corresponding to the employee’s gender identity is sex discrimination. Thus, an employer cannot avoid the requirement to provide equal access to a common restroom by restricting a transgender employee to a single-user restroom instead. Many employers have successfully dealt with the issue of restroom usage on a case-by-case basis. Usually, the simplest solution is the best: the transgender employee should use the restroom matching the current gender presentation. On the first day of a workplace transition, the employee will begin to use the restroom matching his or her new gender. This decision should be communicated to all employees with the support of management. If management supports the right to use a gender-appropriate restroom, other employees will be encouraged to go on with their jobs and quickly forget that there was ever an issue. Another acceptable solution may be for the transgender employee to use a single-occupancy unisex restroom, if one is available in close proximity to the work area. If this does not resolve the problem, or your employer is not willing to be cooperative in promoting a solution to this problem, you should consult an attorney familiar with transgender and/or employment discrimination legal issues to further advise you and to communicate with your employer about its legal obligations.