BISMARCK — The Catholic Diocese of Bismarck and the Catholic Benefits Association are suing the federal government over recent regulations that increase protections for transgender workers and those seeking reproductive health care.

The complaint points to parts of the The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, that outline federal protections for workers seeking abortions and fertility treatments.

It also mentions the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s new workplace harassment guidelines, which additionally provide transgender workers rights related to pronoun usage, bathroom access and gender-affirming health care.

The Catholic Diocese of Bismarck is a member of the Catholic Benefits Association. Together, the entities contend the new mandates “ran roughshod” over their rights as religious employers by ruling some of the church’s teachings — which reject abortion, in vitro fertilization and “transgender ideology” — as unlawful workplace conduct.

“Betrayal” is how the complaint describes the rule’s adoption after pro-life groups supported the PWFA allegedly before it mentioned abortion.

“The EEOC’s rulemaking has betrayed the firm understanding that the PWFA exists to protect pregnant women, postpartum mothers, and their babies — not force religious employers to provide material support for and engage in speech supportive of abortions or immoral fertility treatments,” the complaint states.

It is emphasized that the diocese “does not and will not” accommodate employees who obtain or direct abortion, ”immoral fertility treatment” or transgender affirmation. Such affirmations include the usage of “false pronouns” and the allowance of “improper access to single sex spaces” — like bathrooms.

It argues that the rule puts religious employers at a crossroads of having to either comply with the standards and cast aside their beliefs, or to uphold their ideals and fall vulnerable to penalties.

The Catholic Diocese of Bismarck and Catholic Benefits Association further argue the new interpretations of sex-based discrimination do not protect their religious freedoms and are contradictory to the original purpose of Title VII outlined in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlaws workplace discrimination.

Based on court documents, the EEOC’s defense aligns with its responses to related concerns raised in a fall 2023 public comment period.

The commission said the idea that discussions of religious perspectives related to aforementioned topics would be considered unlawful harassment is a false interpretation. It states that such conduct would be penalized only if it creates a “hostile work environment,” which the commission would interpret on a case-by-case basis.

It also said religious exemptions are still allowed in accordance with Title VII, and as such, the EEOC would evaluate religious exemption requests on a case-by-case basis as well.

In a memorandum, EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows wrote that the motion to suspend the rules, set forth by the Catholic Diocese of Bismarck and Catholic Benefits Association, should be denied. Burrows said the entities lack standing because they cannot demonstrate harm or confusion resulting from the rules, nor can they prove that the EEOC’s discretionary approach is unlawful.

Attorneys representing the Catholic Diocese of Bismarck and the Catholic Benefits Association have asked U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor to temporarily suspend enforcement of the regulations while the lawsuit takes place.

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