Women uncomfortable with transgender employee in toilet

Women uncomfortable with transgender employee in toilet

Author
Discussion

Leylandeye

Original Poster:

550 posts

62 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
quotequote all
I'd like some advice here.

A new employee has started at my brothers place of work who identifies as a woman but was born male.

She uses the ladies toilets and the majority of the female colleagues are uncomfortable with this.

Clearly the trans employee has a right to go to work and not be forced to use another toilet but do the women have any right to not have a trans female in the ladies?

Are the women being as unreasonable as someone would have been 100 years ago having to share a toilet with person of different colour?

Any suggestions on how to deal with this?

Olas

911 posts

64 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
quotequote all
relabel the toilets based on biology. no longer are they for men or women, but they are for testicles or vulva.
You can support their choice to identify as an attack helicopter at the same time as mandating which room they use and appeasing the other staff.

slipstream 1985

12,772 posts

186 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
quotequote all
make them all unisex

Europa1

10,923 posts

195 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
quotequote all
How big is your brother's place of work? As in, are they big enough to have chucked some money at a specialist lawyer before engaging this individual? It's not my area, but I suspect the women who were born women may not have a choice.

Leylandeye

Original Poster:

550 posts

62 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
quotequote all
It's about 90 employees.

ruggedscotty

5,792 posts

216 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
quotequote all
this is a mine field and unless you deal with this properly they will be worse off.....

There are to many out there that cause issues to manufacture a climate of fear, then they will play the big discrimination card and take them to the cleaners.....

if you have showers that are open plan and the like this is going to be very difficult, this trans will want to access there so that she can create as much issue as possible, they manufacture these issues and alienate your staff.

if it were me Id make the toilets unisex - properly segregate each toilet stall and equip with washbasin etc, and add in a few shower stalls again same principle, totally enclosed stalls walled preferably with no means to look under or over into the stall. much like newer fast food joints are doing. enter into the toilet corridor and you have several individual toilets off from the corridor that are fully separated.

Beat them at their own game, remove as much of the stress points as you can and if this is done you will move them on else where if they can not generate stress and trouble.

Brainpox

4,137 posts

158 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
quotequote all
Why are they uncomfortable with it?

Turn7

24,154 posts

228 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
quotequote all
Brainpox said:
Why are they uncomfortable with it?
Leaves the seat up?

Dromedary66

1,924 posts

145 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
quotequote all
Oh dear OP, what you have here is a good old fashioned no-win situation.

MitchT

16,230 posts

216 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
quotequote all
slipstream 1985 said:
make them all unisex
This.

Leylandeye

Original Poster:

550 posts

62 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
quotequote all
Brainpox said:
Why are they uncomfortable with it?
To answer this point, I think the females are uncomfortable with the idea of a once male being in the toilets at the same time as them.

Really appreciate the responses here. Thank you.

It also helps me better understand the situation.

I can see the way they need to move forward now.


Countdown

42,034 posts

203 months

Friday 21st February 2020
quotequote all
MitchT said:
slipstream 1985 said:
make them all unisex
This.
This.

The women will then all start to use the "Disbabled" toilets because some men seemingly have aiming problems and piss all over the seat.

Leylandeye

Original Poster:

550 posts

62 months

Friday 21st February 2020
quotequote all
Countdown said:
MitchT said:
slipstream 1985 said:
make them all unisex
This.
This.

The women will then all start to use the "Disbabled" toilets because some men seemingly have aiming problems and piss all over the seat.
The problem with this is that the existing toilets don't lend themselves to just a change in sign.

The company already has difficulty in retaining staff as there is a shortage of people with the right skill sets and some of the women are already talking about looking to go elsewhere because of this.

I think the solution is to change the toilets to be unsexed - i.e. separate rooms with their own handbasin, floor to ceiling walls.

The staff also need to be asked to be understanding of working in a modern workplace where the law supports the transgender person's rights as they are a minority.

98elise

28,223 posts

168 months

Friday 21st February 2020
quotequote all
slipstream 1985 said:
make them all unisex
This is what we have at work.

Rather than separate M/F toilets there is one area open area with individual small rooms (ie proper door and walls), each with a toilet and sink.

The area outside a corridor and not part of the bathroom.

When I first joined the rooms were labelled M or F, with at least one unisex. More recently they just removed the labels and they are all unisex. Nobody moaned.

The problem is people have grown up with segregation of bathrooms so that's what makes it uncomfortable. In your own home you don't have separate bathrooms.

irocfan

42,391 posts

197 months

Friday 21st February 2020
quotequote all
98elise said:
In your own home you don't have separate bathrooms.
true - but at home you don't have strangers using your bog

mfmman

2,715 posts

190 months

Friday 21st February 2020
quotequote all
98elise said:
they are all unisex. Nobody moaned.
I visited a brand new customer building a few weeks ago, some of the toilets are as you describe.

Much moaning from one of the women on the tour (A H&S rep no less) I did tell her that her comments weren't appropriate in todays society. She chose to flounce at that point

megaphone

10,935 posts

258 months

Friday 21st February 2020
quotequote all
A place I visit had mixed toilets with cubicles, they have recently labelled the cubicles M & F as the ladies moaned about piss all over the seats etc.

bitchstewie

55,137 posts

217 months

Friday 21st February 2020
quotequote all
Leylandeye said:
The problem with this is that the existing toilets don't lend themselves to just a change in sign.

The company already has difficulty in retaining staff as there is a shortage of people with the right skill sets and some of the women are already talking about looking to go elsewhere because of this.

I think the solution is to change the toilets to be unsexed - i.e. separate rooms with their own handbasin, floor to ceiling walls.

The staff also need to be asked to be understanding of working in a modern workplace where the law supports the transgender person's rights as they are a minority.
How are they acting in other ways?

I ask as you'd think that if they make their views over the toilets so clear it must be pretty obvious to the new employee especially if someone rocks up one day and takes down the "ladies" and "gents" signs and replaces them with a "Unisex" sign.

I mean Christ might as well put up a sign saying "this is because of you".

Sounds like it has the potential to be pretty toxic frown

JuniorD

8,820 posts

230 months

Friday 21st February 2020
quotequote all
If this person is in a cubic doing their business, what odds? It would be different if he was standing taking a slash in a urinal or a sink.

designforlife

3,739 posts

170 months

Friday 21st February 2020
quotequote all
I'd be tempted to leave the toilets exactly as they are and send every woman who has complained on a gender equality awareness course.

The trans member of staff isn't the problem, they are.