Clackamas Gastroenterology Associates, P. C. v. Wells

Summary

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Stevens joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, and Thomas, held that common-law control principles govern whether physician-shareholders and directors of a professional corporation count as employees toward the ADA's 15-employee threshold. The Court endorsed six nonexclusive EEOC factors, rejected categorical reliance on corporate form or analogy to partners, and reversed and remanded without conclusively determining the physicians' status. Justice Ginsburg, joined by Justice Breyer, dissented. She would count the physicians as employees and affirm, emphasizing their work for the separate corporate entity, their employment arrangements, and the consequences of excluding ordinary workers from ADA protection.