1. Gender reassignment, religion and belief, and sex are three of the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 (EqA) 2. A trans person can obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC), which formally recognises their transition to the acquired gender if they comply with the conditions in the Gender Recognition Act 2004 3. The provision and use of toilet facilities in the workplace remains a contentious issue for trans employees because of employers' statutory duty to provide separate toilets for men and women - and because the law remains unclear, employers should try to reach agreement through sympathetic discussion 4. Gender-critical beliefs can themselves qualify for protection under the EqA - in other words, it can be discriminatory to penalise an employee because they hold a firm belief that sex is biologically fixed at birth even if this view is opposed by colleagues 5. Under the EqA, sex discrimination and discrimination against transgender people (even those with a GRC) can be permissible in certain circumstances -for example, it is lawful for a refuge specific to female survivors of domestic abuse to exclude males and trans women who are biologically male, but this is being challenged.
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