A federal district court in Texas has vacated expanded enforcement guidance issued last year by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) describing how Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. According to the court, the EEOC’s guidance, which was issued in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, is unlawful because it both goes beyond the scope of Bostock and was issued without following proper rulemaking procedures.
As a result of the court’s ruling, the EEOC’s expanded SOGI guidance is null and void for now, although nothing in the court’s ruling prevents EEOC lawyers from advocating some of the more controversial positions taken in the guidance when litigating a case.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.