Staff at Highgate Men's Pond in London have been instructed not to engage in conversations with visitors about a recent trans ruling, according to an internal notice.
The directive, posted in the staff hut, states: "Until further notices from our senior management team we must not get drawn into any conversations with swimmers or visitors about the ruling."
Instead, employees are told to provide a standard response if questioned about the issue.
The standard response staff are instructed to give is: "We are continuing as we are until we hear further from our senior management team".
Staff at Highgate Men's Pond in London have been instructed not to engage in conversations with visitors about a recent trans ruling
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Staff must also refer any questions to the press office, the Telegraph reports.
They are directed to report swimmers who raise concerns over the lack of single-sex provision to their line manager.
The notice concludes: "Please make sure you report any issues or inappropriate behaviour related to the above, using our incident reporting form and let your Team Leader know so we can escalate accordingly."
The directive comes as campaigners prepared to stage a protest at the Men's Pond on Monday, dubbed "Bank Holiday Man-Day".
Venice Allan, a 49-year-old feminist activist, is leading efforts to restore Kenwood Ladies' Pond as a female-only space.
Campaigners plan to take over the male bathing spot to demonstrate against the City of London Corporation's failure to ban trans women from the women's pond.
A similar protest in 2018 saw women in fake beards and swimsuits removed by police.
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They are directed to report swimmers who raise concerns over the lack of single-sex provision to their line manager
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"There are three ponds and people with gender identities are safe and welcome at the mixed-sex pond," Allan said.
"We will continue to invade the men's space until ours is female-only again."
Allan criticised the council chiefs' decision to limit staff discussions about the ruling.
"Not content with breaking the law, the City of London Corporation is now dragging its own staff into complicity," she said.
"This draconian order appears to gag workers from even acknowledging their employer's unlawful conduct to the public."
She called the instruction to report concerned swimmers "chilling".
Last week, a prominent barrister told The Telegraph that continuing to label the ponds as "men's" and "ladies'" could expose the corporation to legal challenge.
Sarah Vine KC said if the City of London Corporation wishes to maintain its gender self-ID stance, it "should not describe the ponds as anything other than mixed-sex".
She warned that continued gender-specific descriptions would expose the Corporation to discrimination claims.
The practical effect, she argued, would likely "result in a de facto single-sex facility for men" with "no corresponding provision for women".
Vine added that this situation exists "despite the fact that women's overall need for safety and privacy is generally higher than that of men."
A spokesman for the City of London Corporation said: “It is completely false to suggest that the City Corporation is not compliant with existing UK law.
"We take our obligations very seriously and a carefully considered decision in this complex matter will be taken in due course.
“In line with many other affected organisations we are carefully considering the judgment and awaiting statutory guidance from the EHRC which, by law, service providers must take into account.”
