Anti-Discrimination Laws

Answer:

A common concern with employers is whether they are subject to state or federal anti-discrimination laws. The answer to this question depends largely on how many employees you have.

A lot of the times, the federal and state’s statutes overlap regarding the conduct they prohibit. In the federal context, you are subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, which prohibits generally discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy. Those laws will apply to you if you have 15 or more employees.

Another major federal statute is the Age Discrimination and Employment Act (ADEA), which prohibits discrimination based on age. This applies to companies more than 20 employees.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination against employees or applicants based on a known or perceived disability. This will apply to you if you have 25 or more employees.

On the state level and Pennsylvania, specifically, there is one comprehensive statute and that is the Human Relations Act and that applies to you as an employer if you have four or more employees. It’s a much lower threshold and it’s also more comprehensive than the individual federal statutes, but it covers the same areas: national origin, religion, sex, disability, and a few additional topics.