Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on sex, color, religion, race, and national (ethnic) origin. Other statutes prohibit discrimination based on age and disability. But, the statute does not apply to all businesses. An employer must have 15 or more employees for Title VII to apply. For the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to apply, an employer must have 20 or more employees. That means thousands of small employers are not covered by Title VII or the other discrimination statutes.
The intent behind this number of employees was to not burden smaller employers, the “mom and pop” shops. Small businesses employ a huge percentage of workers. It was felt at the time that new rules and statutes was more than the small businesses could handle. We might not feel that way, today. And, certainly, for those folks working for smaller employers who may be fired due to race, age, etc., this is not a good thing. A young man came to see me, once. He had a steady girlfriend, someone he cared about very much. But, his older female boss and sole proprietor kept “making moves” on him. She just would not stop. He was very upset. He loved his work. But, this steady pressure to cooperate was taking a toll. I had to break the bad news to him. Even with part-time employees, his employer was way short of 15 employees.
He left my office knowing he would have to quit or risk losing his job. He was not ready to give up his girl friend. And, his girlfriend was not happy with him for staying there as long as he had. We often assume today that we are entitled to a discrimination-free work place. But, that is not always true.