Curious what the Bunker legal minds think about where the courts currently stand on compelled use of pronouns in a work environment (publicly held company; non government employer). Looks like there’s some recent precedent set in the Shawnee State (Ohio; 6th Circuit), but it wasn’t clear to me if that decision was limited to government employers (state university), or if universally accepted guidance across public and private companies as well.
Was working on my company’s HR “training” modules this past week, and the module covering bias and discrimination included a scenario that stated refusal to adopt and use someone’s preferred pronoun constitutes harassment, suggesting there would be negative consequences for violations. Have any recent court opinions addressed this specifically for non-gov’t employers, or would Shawnee State be considered precedent for all (or most) employer/employee environments?
Was working on my company’s HR “training” modules this past week, and the module covering bias and discrimination included a scenario that stated refusal to adopt and use someone’s preferred pronoun constitutes harassment, suggesting there would be negative consequences for violations. Have any recent court opinions addressed this specifically for non-gov’t employers, or would Shawnee State be considered precedent for all (or most) employer/employee environments?
