How to Better Accommodate LGBT Employees and Candidates On-Site

Employers can accommodate LGBT employees and candidates by offering them gender-neutral restrooms and locker rooms. If declined, allowing employees and candidates to choose their facilities is the next best idea. They can decide based on their personal preferences instead of employers’ preferences.

To help explore these issues, College Recruiter recently hosted a College Recruiting Bootcamp on LGBT and other diversity hiring issues on Tuesday, September 29, at the Twilio headquarters in San Francisco.

College Recruiter has been publishing the opinions from a number of talent acquisition and recruiting leaders about why and how employers should diversify their workforces. Beth Zoller, Legal Editor for XpertHR, discusses one way to accommodate LGBT employees and candidates in the workplace.

Beth Zoller, Legal Editor at XpertHR

“If an employer discovers that one of their candidates for employment is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, an employer should consider the following:

An employer should be prepared to allow reasonable accommodations when it comes to restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms and permit all job candidates and employees, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, to use the restroom or locker room that corresponds with their full-time gender identity and presentation. An individual should not be required to use the restroom or locker room of his or her biological sex especially if the individual is transgender or transitioning.”

Bio: Beth P. Zoller is the legal editor for the discrimination, affirmative action, harassment, retaliation, employee privacy, and employee handbooks/work rules/employee conduct content in the employee management section of XpertHR. Prior to joining XpertHR, Beth practiced law for more than 10 years representing employers with respect to employment discrimination and harassment claims, contractual disputes, restrictive covenant issues, family and medical leave, wage and hour disputes and a variety of other employment-related claims.