# Plain Language Summary: Restroom Access Act of 2025

This bill requires retail stores to let customers with certain medical conditions use their employee restrooms when public restrooms aren't available. If you have a qualifying medical condition and can show an official ID card proving it, stores would have to grant you access to their staff bathrooms during business hours—as long as a few basic conditions are met. The medical conditions covered include inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, people using ostomy devices, and other diagnosed conditions including pregnancy that require immediate restroom access.

To use this access, you'd need to present an identification card issued by the Department of Labor. A doctor, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or other qualified medical professional would have to certify that you have an eligible condition before you could get the card. The bill gives the Department of Labor six months after it becomes law to set up the system for creating and distributing these cards.

However, stores don't have to let you use their employee restroom in every situation. They can refuse if fewer than two employees are working at the time, if the restroom is in a location that would pose a health or safety risk to you, or if a public restroom is actually available to you. This means the law is designed to help people in genuine urgent situations—like when you're shopping and suddenly need a bathroom due to a medical emergency—without forcing stores to open their facilities when it's unsafe or impractical to do so.