For purposes of employment laws, size does matter. Many laws cover employers only after they reach a certain size. Some reporting requirements also depend on size.
Coverage by state and federal employment discrimination laws and regulations often depends upon the size of the employer. The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) covers employers with 20 or more employees. An employer is covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), if it has 15 or more employees. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is effective for employers with at least 50 employees although there has been discussion in Congress about lowering the limit to 25; no such change has been made to date. The Michigan anti-discrimination laws (Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act and the Michigan Handicappers' Civil Rights Act) apply to all employers.
In addition to state and federal non-discrimination laws, employers have responsibilities under the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Act ("MiOSHA") and the New Hire Reporting Program, just to name a few. This article will briefly describe some of the requirements imposed on employers today.
MiOSHA governs all Michigan employers regardless of size. Under the law, employers are required to maintain a number of documents relating to the safety and health of their employees. Employers with 11 or more employees, who are not in an exempted industry, must keep an OSHA Form 200 - the Log and Summary of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses and post it in the workplace from February 1 to March 1 every year. In addition, an OSHA Form 101 must be prepared for each recordable occupational injury or illness. Copies of the OSHA Form 200 and Form 101 must be maintained for 5 years.
Employers also are required to report any fatality or catastrophic accident that results in the in-patient hospitalization of three or more employees to the Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services. The report must be made within 8 hours of the occurrence.
Employers with mechanical power presses also are required to report any point of operation injury or injury within the confines of the die to operators or other employees under the Mechanical Power Presses Standard. The report must be submitted within 30 days of the accident.
A new reporting requirement, the "New Hire Reporting Program," became effective October 1, 1997. Under the new program, all Michigan employers must report basic information about employees who are newly hired, rehired or who return to work after separation of employment. This program is casually referred to as the "deadbeat daddies (and mommies) law" because one of its goals is to assist in the collection of child support payments. You do not need to report all employees, only those who were hired or returned to work on or after October 1, 1997. If an employee is on lay off or leave of absence, the employer typically is not required to report the employee as a New Hire at the time of return to work.
All employees are covered by this law, even if they are part-time, seasonal or temporary. The report must be submitted no later than 20 days after an employee is hired or returns to work. The notice must include the employee's social security number, name and address.
The EEOC also imposes a reporting requirement on some employers. Every covered employer which employs 100 or more people must file an EEO-1 form with the EEOC annually on or before September 30. The purpose of the report is to monitor diversity in the workplace. The EEO-1 form contains a breakdown of the workforce by race, ethnicity, and gender.
If you are a small employer, you may be exempt from many of these requirements, but not all. If you a larger employer, 100 or more employees, you are covered by all of these requirements. It is important to remember that, even if you have not been subject to these employment requirements in the past, as your workforce grows, so may your responsibilities.