Reference Source

32 records

At how many employees does this federal employment law start to apply?

32 records, one fact each. Every value is transcribed from the source that states it and carries the sentence it was taken from: 3 sources across 3 sites, last checked 2026-09-16, due for re-check by 2027-08-04. Every record is listed below, each linking the page its value came from.

Records32
Sources3
Verified
Review by
LicenceFacts extracted from vendor blog posts; thresholds are statutory and not copyrightable

2 records where two or more sources state different values. Both sides are reproduced on the record page, each with its own source and quote.

About this data

Employee-count thresholds that trigger US federal employment laws (FMLA, ADA, COBRA, Title VII, ACA, ERISA and more). Each record is one law at one threshold, stating the trigger point, what the employer is required to do, and how employees are counted for that statute — including whether part-time, remote or FTE counts apply. Answers 'how many employees before [law] applies' and 'does FMLA count remote workers within 75 miles'.

The data

LawFull nameEmployee thresholdRequirementCounting note
ACAsources differAffordable Care Act50you must offer affordable, minimum value health coverage to full-time employees (and dependent children) or face potential penaltiesat least 50 full-time equivalent employees (not just a head count) during the lookback period
ADAAmericans with Disabilities Act15protects those with disabilities from being discriminated against for employment-related opportunitiespart-time and temporary employees are included in the head-count calculation
ADEAAge Discrimination in Employment Act20you cannot discriminate against (or harass) employees or applicants age 40 or older simply due to their agepart-time and temporary employees are included in the head-count calculation
Affirmative ActionAffirmative Action Plans (AAPs)50Organizations with 50 or more employees and $50,000 in government contracts must have an AAP
Age Discrimination in Employment ActAge Discrimination in Employment Act20Age discrimination protection for workers 40 and older
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)Age Discrimination in Employment Act20you cannot discriminateUnless otherwise specified, part-time and temporary employees are included in the head-count calculation
ALEapplicable large employer50your company becomes what’s called an 'applicable large employer' (ALE). In addition to offering health insurance, you’ll need to demonstrate your HR compliance to the IRS every year by filing Forms 1095-C and 1094-C.Seasonal staff working less than 120 days a year do not count toward your headcount for ACA compliance purposes.
Break Time for Nursing MothersBreak Time for Nursing Mothers1you to provide rest breaks and accommodations (in a location other than a bathroom) for nursing mothers to express breast milk for up to 1 year after the child’s birthEmployers with fewer than 50 employees may be exempt if they can demonstrate an undue hardship
CCPAConsumer Credit Protection Act1you cannot discharge an employee simply because their wages have been garnished for a debt
COBRAConsolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act20requires employers to offer continuation coverage of employer-sponsored group health insurance to eligible employees and their dependents when coverage would otherwise be lost due to certain events such as terminationpart-time and temporary employees are included in the head-count calculation
EEO-1EEO-1100+Develop formal procedures for workforce changes and annual EEO reporting
EEO-1 ReportEEO-1 Report100requires you to annually submit employment data categorized by race/ethnicity, gender, and job category to the EEOCpart-time and temporary employees are included in the head-count calculation
EEOCEqual Employment Opportunity Commission100businesses over a certain size submit a headcount report including race, gender, and role information on an annual basis.the law does not distinguish between full-time or part-time workers.
EPAEqual Pay Act1you must provide equal compensation to anyone who performs equal work within the same workplace, regardless of gender
EPPAEmployee Polygraph Protection Act1if you are a private employer, you cannot use a lie detector test for pre-employment screening or during the course of employment unless you meet certain exceptions
ERISAEmployee Retirement Income Security Act1your benefit plans must meet minimum standards outlined in the act, which include regulations for participation, vesting, benefit accrual and funding, fiduciary responsibilities, grievance process
FCRAFair Credit Reporting Act1you must take certain steps prior to using consumer reports (including standard background checks) to make employment decisions
Federal labor laws for businesses with 15 or more employeesFederal labor laws for businesses with 15 or more employees15When you reach 15 employees, you'll need to comply with additional federal laws designed to prevent discrimination in the workplace.
Federal labor laws for businesses with 20 or more employeesFederal labor laws for businesses with 20 or more employees20When your team grows to 20 employees, two additional federal laws come into play that provide important protections for your workers.
FLSAFair Labor Standards Act1requires nonexempt employees to be paid at least a minimum wage and overtime wages
FMLAsources differFamily and Medical Leave Act50requires you to provide eligible employees with unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasonspart-time and temporary employees are included in the head-count calculation
Form 5500Employee Benefit Plans (Form 5500)50required for any employer who sponsors a pension or welfare benefit plan covered by ERISA
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act15you cannot discriminate against employees or applicants based on their genetic information or family medical historyUnless otherwise specified, part-time and temporary employees are included in the head-count calculation
GINAGenetic Information Nondiscrimination Act15you cannot discriminate against employees or applicants based on their genetic information or family medical historypart-time and temporary employees are included in the head-count calculation
IRCAImmigration Reform and Control Act1requires you to only hire and retain employees who are legally authorized to work in the United States
Jury System Improvements ActJury System Improvements Act1you cannot discharge, intimidate, or threaten to discharge an employee summoned to serve as a juror in federal court
OSH ActOccupational Safety and Health Act1requires you to provide a safe workplace, maintain records of work-related injuries, post required information, and train employees regarding safety hazards
PDAPregnancy Discrimination Act15requires you to treat employees who are pregnant or recently went through childbirth the same as any other applicant or employee regarding their ability or inability to workpart-time and temporary employees are included in the head-count calculation
Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA)Pregnancy Discrimination Act15The <https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/fs-preg.cfm> Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) requires you to treat employees who are pregnant or recently went through childbirth the same as any other applicant or employee regarding their ability or inability to work. Unequal treatment is considered unlawful sex discriminationUnless otherwise specified, part-time and temporary employees are included in the head-count calculation
Title VII of the Civil Rights ActTitle VII of the Civil Rights Act15you are prohibited from discriminating against employees based on race, color, religion, sex, or national originpart-time and temporary employees are included in the head-count calculation
USERRAUniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act1when an employee returns from military service or training, you are required to provide them with either their former job or a comparable job
WARNWorker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act100you are required to provide a 60-day advance written notice to affected employeespart-time and temporary employees are included in the head-count calculation

Where this came from

Every record above links the page it was taken from and quotes the sentence that states it. These are the 3 sources this dataset was assembled from.

Machine-readable

From your own code

Same records, same quotes, without scraping the page: refsource is on PyPI and npm. Each value comes back carrying the URL it was read from and the sentence on that page that states it — .source and .quote sit on the value itself rather than in a side channel, so the checking step is available instead of skipped.

pip install refsource
refsource lookup regulatory-threshold-triggers law=ACA

npx -y refsource lookup regulatory-threshold-triggers law=ACA

Set your AI assistant up to use this

Two files and no account. Put this in .mcp.json at the root of your project — Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code and Codex all read that file — and your assistant can look this dataset up instead of recalling it. The server is remote, keyless and read-only.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "referencesource": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://referencesource.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add to Cursor · or, on the command line: claude mcp add --transport http referencesource https://referencesource.org/mcp --scope project

Then one line in the project's CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md, so the assistant knows when to reach for it:

When a question needs "US federal employment law thresholds by employee count", call the referencesource MCP server at https://referencesource.org/mcp (tool `search_records`, dataset_slug `regulatory-threshold-triggers`) instead of answering from memory — every record it returns carries its source URL and a verbatim quote from that page.

What each tool does, and the servers built over single registers: Connect your AI assistant.

32 records. last verified against source . due for re-check by .

Licence. Facts extracted from vendor blog posts; thresholds are statutory and not copyrightable