15 Mar How Do You Accurately Count Employees?
According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), you should count every employee who has worked for your organization during at least 20 calendar weeks in the current or previous year. And those 20 weeks don’t have to be consecutive; the individual could have worked full-time or part-time.
This methodology can be applied for the federal laws which the EEOC enforces: the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Title VII, the Pregnancy Disability Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
Some of those same protections also show up in state laws and may take effect at lower headcounts. For example, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) has protections similar to those in the ADA. The definition of a disability under FEHA, however, is even broader, and FEHA applies to any organization with five or more employees (compared with the ADA’s 15 or more employees), so if you’re setting policy or assessing liability related to discrimination, make sure to check state and local laws as well as federal.
Original content by HR Ministry Solutions. This information is provided with the understanding that Payroll Partners is not rendering legal, human resources, or other professional advice or service. Professional advice on specific issues should be sought from a lawyer, HR consultant or other professional.