BBC lets women work from home if they don't want to share toilets with biological males

[BunfightBetty]

According to the Mail, the BBC are still flouting the law, following the Supreme Court ruling.

If you're a woman BBC employee and object to males in your single sex spaces, it is you who must make way for the man. The BBC will graciously consider your request to work from home, but will not tell the man he needs to use the gents.

Apparently, they're another set of numpties waiting for the ECHR guidance before they deign to obey the law.

I think for me this is the final straw that will see me stopping my licence fee direct debit.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15230137/BBC-let-staff-work-home-worried-policy-allows-biological-males-womens-toilets-despite-Supreme-Court-gender-ruling.html

Shocking. Feel.like withholding my licence fee.

It would be interesting to know what advice they have taken on that. Surely it just makes it worse as these women who have been forced into working from home then miss out on networking and development opportunities, future promotions and so on. Are there really HR / employment law people recommending this approach? It seems obviously problematic.

Well yes, IANAL but there does seem obvious legal risk there, that they are unnecessarily opening themselves up to. I’m finding it hard to imagine a legal adviser worth their salt advising that this is the prudent way forward.

A novel twist on the process being the punishment.

The narrative we've seen tried so far by the Darlington barrister: the broken women who won't or can't serve the men in women's spaces should be excluded. (And really ought to fix themselves.)

It abandons any interest in inclusion and access for women, or equality. It just divides a sex class into the good girls who serve men nicely and the bad girls who will have to be second class citizens with less rights.

But since we have a govt who apparently couldn't lie straight in bed, and who have no respect for the law or truth or anything like that, I suppose they think why not.

Does that include all the female employees or just the ones that take a laptop home 🤔

I have just cancelled my subscription, never watch it anyway. Worth cancelling properly through website as you pay in advance. I’m getting a £90 refund. If you just cancel your DD they automatically use your credit for the next six months.

That is outrageous. Blaming the victim, again. It should be topic for Question Time.

How inclusive of them. They would prefer to keep women away from the workplace rather than obey the law.

The BBC have lost it.

That’s a point. There could be not just misogyny at work here, but class-based prejudice and elitism too.

Quite. You would think the optics would be excruciating, but perhaps not if you’re so steeped in misogyny as the BBC appears to be.

Yes, that'd be a possible case for sex discrimination. It fits the law pretty well. I wonder what the wonderful Audrey Ludwig would say?

From the DM article "The guidance, as seen by the Daily Telegraph added: 'If any of our staff have concerns in the meantime, they are invited to speak to us on an individual basis so that we can work with them to find a solution during this interim period.'"

How about, as a 'solution during the interim period' (as BBC HR seem to be hard of understanding) they say that biological men use the male toilets and biological women use the female toilets? It's really really not that difficult is it. The law was never any different to this; it's only thanks to Stonewall and the like that the lines have been blurred and women's rights stomped all over. Fuck sake.

Do they let their female cleaners wfh? If so, I might apply. It sounds like the perfect side hustle.

Good question - what if you're a cleaner? Or do any other job that requires you to be in the building?

Edited to say: I posted that before I saw the PP making the same point.

Extremely important point.

I wish one very high profile woman would stand up. In fact if Tess and Claudia said they were working from home that would really show the idiots up. I might even watch that

The TRAs won’t like this either because it acknowledges the conflict of rights.

I was going to post similar. I suspect routine WFH will hurt women’s progression opportunities if everyone else is on site and able to learn from seniors and get noticed. It sounds like indirect religious discrimination too, for staff who cannot share mixed sex spaces for changing and ablutions.

I agree this is a legal minefield. Why can’t they just follow the law?

Just cancelled mine as well. It would be good if a lot of women followed suit. They won't listen unless you hit them in the pocket.

The thing that really baffles me about this is that they must have more than one set of toilets. So they could designate some by sex and some by gender if they really aren't sure what to do while waiting for this guidance.

So they are excluding women ? By not providing single sex toilets ?

but I love blue lights!

I feel like the DM have taken some rather generic guidance here and twisted it into the headline.

From their article:

"In the FAQs section of the guidance for BBC employees, released through a freedom of information request, it states: 'Can I work from home if I feel provision is not available for me?'

In reply it said: 'People should speak to line managers or if they would rather their HRBP (human resources business partner) if they have any concerns about their working arrangements.'

Elsewhere in its guidance i.e. not in relation to the above, the broadcaster said: 'Our current "Workplace" strategy aims to ensure we have a broad and appropriate range of bathroom/toilet provision (especially in our larger buildings) for all BBC colleagues and we will be auditing this carefully to assess whether any new provision of facilities is required.

'We are not making any changes now, on the basis that we are waiting for approved government guidance in this space which we expect this autumn.'

The guidance, as seen by the Daily Telegraph added: 'If any of our staff have concerns in the meantime, they are invited to speak to us on an individual basis so that we can work with them to find a solution during this interim period.'"

So it doesn't appear that any women have been told "work from home if you don't like it". The above response in the FAQs is totally generic and could just as easily apply to those with access needs.

I think this is the DM stirring, to be honest.