ENDA would amend federal law to prohibit job discrimination against some lesbian and gay workers. However, because the enforcement of ENDA would be significantly limited in Pennsylvania, the passage of this landmark gay civil rights bill would be inadequate to protect lesbian and gay Pennsylvanians. In our commonwealth, the passage of law on the state level would be far more effective than the passage of ENDA on the federal level. ENDA would only protect workers at workplaces with 15 or more employees. We can only estimate how many employees this would cover given the fact that no agency keeps accurate records on how many employers have 15 or more employees.
Small employers can pop up and disappear quickly.
Business owned by a single person may not even have to file a separate tax return. Only 42,414 have more than nineteen employees. In rural areas of the state, most employers are small. Proportionally, Pennsylvania is one of the most rural states in the country. Nine of Pennsylvania's thirteen million residents live outside Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.