EEOC Signals Shift on Trans Rights, Targeting Pronoun and Bathroom Policies

HR Dive · United States · Oct 2, 2026

The EEOC under the Trump administration has pursued two recent enforcement actions reversing Biden-era positions on gender identity in the workplace: one against Generac Power Systems for failing to accommodate a religious request to use 'biological pronouns,' and one against the city of O'Fallon, Illinois, for not designating sex-specific locker rooms. Both cases resolved without litigation, but signal that the agency now treats single-sex spaces and pronoun objections as potential religious accommodation issues rather than transgender harassment. Employers operating in the 20-plus states with gender identity protections face conflicting obligations, and attorneys warn that federal courts — potentially including the Supreme Court — have yet to resolve the ceiling-vs.-floor question under Title VII. Staffing firms and their employer clients should audit religious accommodation processes and facilities policies now, as both inaction and over-action carry compliance risk depending on jurisdiction.