netherlands sex-discrimination
Law regarding toilets use in The Netherlands
<p>Today my manager sent an email to our department regarding the toilet use; they said that it is not allowed to use the ladies' room as a man, by law, and vice versa.</p>
<p>That got me curious.</p>
<p>Note that I work for a fairly large company which is not in the catering industry.</p>
<p>My questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Is is prohibited for a man to <em>use</em> the ladies' room?</li>
<li>Is there any other law saying something about the <em>construction</em> or <em>possession</em> of such toilets, such as the <em>Arbeidsomstandighedenbesluit</em> or something?</li>
<li>Are there perhaps special laws for the catering industry regarding this affair?</li>
</ul>

<p>Indeed, <a href="https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0008498/2022-01-01/#Hoofdstuk3_Afdeling1_Paragraaf5_Artikel3.24" rel="nofollow noreferrer">article 3.24 of the <em>Arbeidsomstandighedenbesluit</em></a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Toiletten en wastafels</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In een bedrijf of inrichting zijn in de nabijheid van de ruimten waar de werknemers hun werkzaamheden verrichten een voldoende aantal toiletten aanwezig.</p>
</li>
<li><p>In of in de onmiddellijke nabijheid van de ruimten waarin de toiletten zich bevinden zijn voldoende wastafels.</p>
</li>
<li><p>De toiletten of het gebruik van de toiletten zijn naar seksen gescheiden.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>My translation (intentionally less idiomatic than it might be in order to parallel the Dutch word order):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Toilets and lavatories</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In a business or facility there are in the vicinity of the areas where the workers perform their work a sufficient number of toilets present.</p>
</li>
<li><p>In, or in the immediate vicinity of, the areas where the toilets are, there are sufficient lavatories.</p>
</li>
<li><p>The toilets or the use of the toilets are segregated by sex.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>It's a very long law, so I haven't read it all, but it doesn't seem to impose a penalty on people who disregard the sex segregation of the toilets.  I suspect that it imposes a responsibility on the employer to enforce the segregation, and presumably a penalty could be imposed on the employer for failing to do so.  I do not know what mechanisms would be available to the employer to penalize an employee who uses the wrong toilet.</p>
<p>I don't know anything about the catering industry, and I cannot infer why you ask about it specifically.  If you're asking about toilets provided by such businesses for their <em>customers,</em> however, I suspect it's likely to be governed by another law.  (I further suspect that sex-segregated toilets for customers are optional in at least some circumstances, since small bars and restaurants often have only one toilet.)</p>
