Title VII and the ADA: 15 employees
Title VII (42 U.S.C. 2000e(b)) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. 12111) share the same coverage test, stated in the EEOC Compliance Manual section 2:
- 15 or more employees
- for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks
- in the current or preceding calendar year
Fifteen employees on a single day does not satisfy the test; the count must hold across 20 or more calendar weeks.
The ADEA: 20 employees
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act sets a higher bar for private employers: 20 employees (EEOC Compliance Manual section 2).
Traps to state outright:
- 15 is the Title VII and ADA threshold, not the ADEA threshold.
- 20 is the ADEA threshold, not the Title VII or ADA threshold. The number 20 appears in both tests, but in Title VII and the ADA it counts calendar weeks, not employees.
- 50 employees is a figure from a different law. It does not apply to Title VII, the ADA or the ADEA.
Working a coverage question
Test the employer against each law separately. A private contractor had 17 employees on every working day for 25 calendar weeks last year.
- Title VII and ADA: 17 ≥ 15 employees and 25 ≥ 20 weeks, so both apply (42 U.S.C. 2000e; 42 U.S.C. 12111).
- ADEA: 17 < 20 employees, so the ADEA does not apply.
The result is Title VII and the ADA, but not the ADEA.
Wrong conclusions and their errors:
- Only the ADEA covers the employer: this reverses the thresholds.
- All three apply: this ignores the 20-employee ADEA threshold.
- None apply: this overlooks that 17 employees for 25 weeks meets the Title VII and ADA test.