Certain workplaces are excluded because of the size of the workforce. For example, under federal law, your employer must have 15 employees before you can bring a discrimination case based on sex, pregnancy, race, color, disability and religion,. For age discrimination cases, your company must have 20 employees, and in order to qualify for maternity leave under the FMLA, your employer must have 50 employees on payroll (and you must have worked there for a solid year before your baby is born).
Many state and city discrimination laws, however, require far fewer employees before discrimination coverage applies. In New York, for example, only 4 employees are required for the discrimination laws to apply.