Ken Paxton sues Biden administration for including misgendering someone as workplace harassment – Washington Examiner
Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, has initiated a second lawsuit against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Justice Department. The lawsuit challenges the EEOC’s guidelines that protect transgender individuals in the workplace, asserting that these regulations misclassify actions such as refusing to allow an employee to use the restroom that aligns with their gender identity, or misgendering someone, as harassment. Paxton argues that such regulations infringe on employers’ rights and overstep state sovereignty by imposing federal definitions of workplace policies. He contends that the EEOC’s interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act mischaracterizes necessary workplace accommodations as harassment protections, which he believes compromises the rights of all employees. The lawsuit was filed in collaboration with the Heritage Foundation, reflecting ongoing tensions between state policies and federal guidelines on workplace discrimination related to gender identity.
Ken Paxton sues Biden administration for including misgendering someone as workplace harassment
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed his second lawsuit against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Justice Department over the EEOC granting protections to transgender people in the workplace.
Paxton, a Republican, filed his lawsuit on Thursday, arguing the agency’s guidelines clarifying what constitutes harassment include not allowing an employee to use the bathroom that aligns with their chosen gender identity or calling an employee by pronouns that don’t align with their gender identity. Employers also could not reprimand an employee for dressing in attire that aligns with their chosen gender expression. These acts would be considered unlawful in the workplace.
“EEOC claims that the Pronoun Accommodation, the Bathroom Accommodation, and the Dress Code Accommodation are not accommodations, but instead result from Title VII’s prohibition of sexual harassment in the workplace,” the lawsuit states. “That is completely wrong. An employee’s statutory right to be free from sexual harassment is not an “accommodation” to certain employees, such that some employees may be harassed, and others may not.”
In addition, Paxton, who filed with the Heritage Foundation, said the agency “purports to preempt the State’s sovereign power to enact and abide by its workplace policies.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration is attempting yet again to rewrite federal law through undemocratic and illegal agency action,” he said in a statement. “This time, they are unlawfully weaponizing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in an attempt to force private businesses and States to implement ‘transgender’ mandates — and Texas is suing to stop them.”
In July, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk rejected Paxton’s first lawsuit against the EEOC’s guidance, stating that there needed to be a new complaint filed.
Paxton has filed dozens of lawsuits against the Biden administration since 2021, including ones addressing illegal immigration and alleged government censorship.
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