In a four-page Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Workers, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration advises employers on “Best Practices” concerning restroom access for these employees: “… It is essential for employees to be able to work in a manner consistent with how they live the rest of their daily lives, based on their gender identity,” the guide says.

“Restricting employees to using only restrooms that are not consistent with their gender identity, or segregating them from other workers by requiring them to use gender-neutral or other specific restrooms, singles those employees out and may make them fear for their physical safety,” OSHA, an arm of the  Labor Department wrote, posting the guide on its Web site last week.

In some workplaces, “questions can arise… about which facilities certain employees can use,” OSHA said, then explained that someone’s “internal gender identity” may be different from the sex they were assigned at birth. “A person who identifies as a man should be permitted to use men’s bathrooms, and a person who identifies as a woman should be permitted to use women’s restrooms.”