What length should a company go to in order to protect an employee?

There is a temporary worker on one of my production lines who is male, but has breasts and hips like a woman. I believe he is preparing for sexual reassignment. (Although I am not allowed to ask him)

Today my boss saw him leave the men's room and walk into the ladies room instead. Since I have been quite open about my childhood (grew up in a lesbian household), and I am his immediate supervisor, my boss asked me to address the issue.

What do you think a company should do and should have to do in order to address this type of issue?

My company is very progressive - going as far as to allow lifepartners insurance and other benefits. There are several openly gay employees.

Some of the female employees do not want a man in their restroom.......where does the law stand on this?

My answer was to call him into my office, set him down with the door closed and be as open as possible, telling him I need to discuss a delicate issue.

Definitely set that person down in your office and have a talk with them. Make sure they know they're not in trouble and that you have something you need to talk about before it becomes an issue, like it sounds like it's starting to be. There are some resources out there managers of trans employees. Unfortunately I lost the links when my computer crashed, but they're out there! If I remember right, HRC has a decent one. I say decent because the PDF is about half good advice and half a trans advocacy pamphlet.

I would suggest you turn directly to your HR department for answers. There are probably some things you can look at, like when he first signed up/applied for the job was he a man or a woman? I know one of my friends hired a drag queen into his retail store. Because the drag queen was hired in as a guy, he couldn't come to work in drag being a woman. So that might help you out in this situation as well. If not turn to HR about it, get them involved, and have someone there in your meeting. This way he/she can not say there was any form of discrimination and then everyone is covered, his/her rights, your rights, and the companies...

In california you use the restroom that you present as; if he is going by a male name and goes by male pronoouns he needs to use the mensroom. He will need to show you paperwork showing that the transition has started and then go full time at work - at that point the company has to accept her fully as a female.
This person is not a drag queen, just someone stuck at a decision point.

I'm no expert here, but I think I see one thing that you can be sure of; he can't have it both ways. (both rest rooms)

Other than that, you may have to designate him as a man for rest room purposes until he can show otherwise.

And, at a guess, your boss probably wants you to make this decision. Whether this is a kindness or not is not clear.

Yes you should call him in to discuss the situation. Since your company is gay accepting of employees, you should address this with him, if he is preop then he should be using the mens room. After surgery he/she would then use the womens room. Being transgender he needs to be responsible about his situation to not offend co workers. This may even mean a third restroom for transgender's. I would explain to him that he is a temporary employee and that this could pose a problem and that he needs to use the restroom for men at this time. In the eyes of the goverment he is still a male. I'm straight and male and this is my veiw on the situation. How would I feel sharing a restroom with him, shook at first but I'm secure enough in my sexuality to not let it bother me.

Your first instinct is correct in sitting him down with the door closed as this is a private matter. Before doing that, I woudl review the HR policy about harassment and make sure your company has a no-tolerance policy. Let him know that there have been several employees who are uncomfortable with him using the women's rest room and if he could use the gender appropriate rest room.

If he identifies as a female at this point, then I would address this differently. Good luck!

if at the moment he identifies his self as a man ie..dresses as a man name of a man he should be using the male bathroom or visa versa if he identifies as a women....he shouldn't be using both,i think you did the right thing talking to him in private and hopefully he will accept what you discussed with him and will decide to act accordingly ...not sure on the legal aspect ...its good that people are willing to discuss this with him ...some employers would not know how to react at all and would make the person very uncomfy with the situation

There was a girl at my work who was growing a mustache. she was in the girls restroom and the guards ask her to leave. i thought that was right since she is turning herself into a guy. she should get use to a guys restroom too., shortly after that she quit her job.