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Statutory Minimum # of employees for EEOC
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Statutory Minimum # of employees for EEOC
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I know that companies with 15 or more employees are subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title 1 of the ADA of 1990. Is this 15 full-time equivalents? 15 FT employees? 15 total emp
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Statutory Minimum # of employees for EEOC
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Statutory Minimum # of employees for EEOC
posted at 6/18/2009 12:56 PM EDT
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Posts: 55
First: 2/6/2006 Last: 8/10/2009 |
I know that companies with 15 or more employees are subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title 1 of the ADA of 1990. Is this 15 full-time equivalents? 15 FT employees? 15 total employees? How is this determined?
Also, if our company has 14 people then we hire a 3 month contract employee, does this make us subject to the above acts for the three month period? For the entire year? Ack... too many possibilities. Can someone explain this to me? Please & thank you. |
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Statutory Minimum # of employees for EEOC
posted at 6/18/2009 2:28 PM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
http://www.eeoc.gov/employers/overview.html
"How do I determine if a business of my size is covered by the EEO laws? All employees, including part-time and temporary workers, are counted for purposes of determining whether an employer has a sufficient number of employees. An employee is someone with whom the employer has an employment relationship. The existence of an employment relationship is most easily shown by a person's appearance on the employer's payroll, but this alone does not necessarily answer the question. Determining whether an employer has enough employees to be covered by these laws is, ultimately, a legal question. This subject is addressed in: * EEOC Enforcement Guidance on Equal Employment Opportunity Commission & Walters v. Metropolitan Educational Enterprises, Inc. and, * Section 2 of the new Compliance Manual on "Threshold Issues Independent contractors are not counted as employees. Determining whether an individual is, under the law, an independent contractor, also is a legal question that may not be as easy to answer as you might think. For more information on how to determine whether a person is an "employee" or an "independent contractor" visit Section 2 of the new Compliance Manual on "Threshold Issues If you are unsure whether your business is covered, or whether an individual who works for you is covered, you may wish to consult with an attorney." I clicked on Section 2 and it explains it further: "An employer is covered under Title VII or the ADA if it has 15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the same calendar year as, or in the calendar year prior to when, the alleged discrimination occurred.(98) The requirements for coverage of a private sector employer under the ADEA are the same, except that it must have 20 or more employees. A state or local government employer is covered under the ADEA regardless of its number of employees.(99)....To count employees, determine the number of employees on an employer s payroll; exclude individuals who are not employees, e.g., discharged/former employees or independent contractors. Add to that figure any other individuals who have an employment relationship with the employer, such as temporary or other staffing firm workers. Where a charge is filed during the early part of the calendar year, it may be necessary to wait until later during the same year to assess employer coverage. In determining whether the 20-week requirement is met, only calendar weeks when the employer had the requisite number of employees for each workday of that week are counted. However, the 20 weeks need not be consecutive. In addition, an employee who started or ended employment during the middle of a calendar week is counted as an employee on the days when s/he had an employment relationship with the employer.(102) The employer is not required to have the statutory number of employees at the time of the alleged violation or before it, as long as the requirement is met by the end of the calendar year in which the discrimination occurred. For example, a newly formed company may have been in operation for only a short period at the time that a disputed action transpired. However, it would be covered if it met the 20-week requirement during the remainder of the same calendar year.(103)" So it pretty much sounds like you need to be tracking employees each week of a calendar year. We had to do this when we got close to 50 for FMLA also. Just part of the job as you get bigger...and if all else fails, ASSUME you ARE COVERED. Because truly do you want to discriminate for protected reasons even if you are smaller than the limits? Because you could be setting your company up for problems in the future if it is allowed now. |
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