Group files brief regarding discrimination suits

“Determining who qualifies as an employee under federal discrimination laws is a legal question that must be decided by a judge. It would be unfair to both juries and parties in a dispute, to ask juries to interpret statutes and decide whether the business in a particular case qualifies as an employer subject to the statute the claim relies on,” said Karen Harned, executive director of NFIB’s Legal Foundation, in an Oct. 31 news release.

Understanding who qualifies as an employee under federal law is extremely burdensome for small-business owners because there is no clear definition that businesses can depend on, according to the news release. Laws and regulations often specify that an employer must have a certain number of employees for the law to apply.

However, these laws do not clarify who should, or should not, be counted as an employee, leaving this designation to the courts’ interpretation.

Delivery drivers, part-time workers, independent contractors and spouses of business owners have been considered by some jurisdictions as nonemployees in regard to the federal law requirement, while other jurisdictions have decided that these workers should count as employees.

“Asking juries to decide if there is a claim in a case based upon the statute’s definition of an employer will only lead to more ambiguity in discrimination cases,” Harned said. “We need juries to evaluate the facts surrounding the incident in question (and) not be bogged down with legal questions that require interpreting the statute.”

The case before the Supreme Court is Arbaugh v. Y& H Corp., No. 04-944. In 2001, Arbaugh brought a discrimination claim against Y & H, a restaurant owner in New Orleans, under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights

Act. After the jury announced their verdict in favor of Arbaugh, Y & H moved for the claim to be dismissed for lack of federal jurisdiction asserting that Y & H did not qualify as a 15-worker employer because delivery drivers, restaurant owners and their wives should not be counted as employees.

Without the required 15 employees, Y & H is not bound by Title VII. The district court granted the motion for dismissal, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed.

Other business groups have joined NFIB’s Legal Foundation in filing this brief.