Watkins & Letofsky LLP may have had the 15 employees needed to trigger Americans with Disabilities Act coverage for an associate attorney in Nevada who sought a reduced schedule for health reasons, the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday.
A lower court dismissed Amy Buchanan’s 2019 suit because the civil litigation firm’s Nevada office didn’t have 15 or more workers at the time. But the “integrated enterprise” test applies to ADA job discrimination cases and the lower court failed to consider whether Watkins & Letofsky collectively had at least 15 employees on its Nevada and California offices, the appeals court said.
The test, which it had previously recognized as applying under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, likewise applies under the ADA, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held on a question of first impression for the court.
The language and set up of Title VII and the ADA are in many ways identical, visiting Judge Kathryn H. Vratil of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas said. The circuit has long interpreted the ADA’s employment provisions consistent with interpretations of Title VII and it should do so as well with regard to how a plaintiff can meet the employee-numerosity requirement, she said.
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