CVS employees must address transitioning co-workers by preferred pronouns, names

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CVS Health has set up “gender transition guidelines” for its workers to follow.

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The U.S. health-care company that owns retail chain CVS Pharmacy, among other brands, has instructed its employees to address colleagues who are transitioning by their preferred pronouns and names, Fox News reported.

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The guide’s section on “Guidelines for Supporting a Colleague who is Transitioning” encourages employees to be an ally by asking colleagues to let them know if they say or do anything that makes them uncomfortable.

In accordance with the company’s Health Equal Employment, Affirmative Action, Anti-Discrimination, Anti-Harassment and Anti-Retaliation Policy, it is also suggested that employees not make assumptions about an individual’s gender and to become an ally — whether it’s by being an inclusive leader and champion of diversity — as it makes a positive impact on a co-worker’s life.

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The policy asks transgender employees to include their preferred pronouns in their email signatures, introduce their preferred pronouns in meeting introductions, and to let their co-workers know they “won’t tolerate even subtle forms of discrimination or harassment in the workplace.”

Once a transgender staffer makes known their preferred pronouns and name, their colleagues are advised to not refer to them by other pronouns or their dead/previous name as “some terms are universally considered disrespectful and violate CVS’s policy against discrimination and harassment,” the guide states.

“Terms like transgender, trans-male/trans-female, non-binary or ‘male’ or ‘female’ should be used,” it instructed.

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Transgender employees and those who are transitioning can also use whichever restroom or change room that corresponds with their gender identity, something all workers (or customers or patients) — transgender or otherwise — “should determine the most appropriate for themselves.”

Transitioning employees may be entitled to a medical leave of absence and receive “appropriate medical care to support your transition, including treatments such as hormone replacement therapy and/or gender confirmation surgery.”

The guide also lists what terms are acceptable (“transgender,” “cisgender,” “gender dysphoria,” “non-binary,” “gender non-conforming” and “gender identity”) and what is unacceptable (“transgenders” and “transgendered”)

Transgender employees also have “the right to be who they are without unnecessary disclosure of medical information or gender history.”