My workplace is a large campus of about 5 buildings. The particular building I work in is multi-tenanted. My organisation occupies six floors, and another organisation occupies one floor. We share 'end of trip' facilities.
I'm approaching a point where my chest no longer looks 'male'. I planned to switch to using the disabled amenities soon.
The amenities were recently renovated. I learned today that new swipecard access controls have been fitted and I have not been granted access to the disabled amenities. I rang our security supervisor and requested access 'for additional privacy'. The response was that 'Building 3 is a multi-tenant lease and the landlord's policy is only to provide access to people with a permanent disability'. I also learned that the bathrooms are gendered, and my employer has recently furnished the landlord with the gender of each card-holder so that the landlord could designate access to the correct restroom on the security system.
This all raises a myriad of legal issues, but mostly I think I'm slightly disappointed with my employer. It has put itself in a position of permitting a third party to make judgements about which of our employees can use what facilities. Worse, my employer may now have to submit employee's sensitive medical or gender information to the landlord to justify a request for amended access.
It's not a big drama, because I can use the accessible change rooms on the other side of the campus for now. But I think it's misguided for an employer to appoint itself as the arbiter of which employees can use what amenities. And it certainly shouldn't relinquish the judgement to a third party.
Perhaps a better position would have been to insist that the landlord provide universal access for all staff on the basis that
(a) our organisation recognises that not all legitimate disabilities are visible and known to us,
(b) our organisation acknowledges that there are a range of justifications we can't contemplate why employees may reasonably require the additional space or privacy of the accessible amenities, and
(c) we accept that the employee is in the best position to determine which amenities are most appropriate to their circumstances at any given time
Not sure if the landlord would agree. I guess they need to balance the comfort of both tenants.
Perhaps I should ask the doctor to provide me a 'disabled amenities access' letter?
