Table 2:
State Disability and Age Discrimination Laws, 2016
| Age discrimination laws | Disability discrimination laws | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State (City) | Minimum firm size |
Larger damages than ADEA |
Minimum firm size |
Larger damages than ADA | Broader (medical) definition of disability |
| Alabama (Birmingham) | 20 | No | No law | No law | No law |
| Alaska (Anchorage) | 1 | Yes | 1 | Yes | No |
| Arizona (Phoenix) | 15 | No | 15 | No (no punitive damages) | No |
| Arkansas (Little Rock) | No law | No law | 9 | No (same as ADA) | No |
| California (Los Angeles) | 5 | Yes | 5 | Yes (uncapped) | Yes (“limits” only) |
| Colorado (Denver) | 1 | No | 1 | No (same as ADA) | No |
| Connecticut (Hartford) | 3 | No | 3 | No | Yes |
| Delaware(Wilmington) | 4 | Yes | 4 | No (same as ADA) | No |
| Florida (Miami) | 15 | Yes | 15 | No (punitive capped at $100k) |
No |
| Georgia (Atlanta) | 1 | No | 15 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Hawaii (Honolulu) | 1 | Yes | 1 | Yes (uncapped) | No |
| Idaho (Boise) | 5 | Yes | 5 | No (punitive capped at $10k) | No |
| Illinois (Chicago) | 15 | Yes | 1 | No (no punitive) | Yes |
| Indiana (Indianapolis) | 1 | No | 15 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Iowa (Des Moines) | 4 | Yes | 4 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Kansas (Wichita) | 4 | Yes | 4 | No (no punitive damages, damages capped at $2k) |
No |
| Kentucky (Louisville) | 8 | Yes | 15 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Louisiana (New Orleans) | 20 | Yes | 15 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Maine (Portland) | 1 | Yes | 1 | Yes | No |
| Maryland (Baltimore) | 1 | Yes | 1 | No (same as ADA, no punitive damages in Baltimore County for employers < 15) |
No |
| Massachusetts (Boston) | 6 | Yes | 6 | Yes (uncapped) | No |
| Michigan (Detroit) | 1 | Yes | 1 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Minnesota (Minneapolis) | 1 | Yes | 1 | No (punitive capped at $25k) | Yes (“materially limits” only) |
| Mississippi (Jackson) | No law | No law | No law | No law | No law |
| Missouri (Kansas City) | 6 | Yes | 6 | Yes (uncapped) | No |
| Montana (Billings) | 1 | Yes | 1 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Nebraska (Lincoln) | 20 | No | 15 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Nevada (Las Vegas) | 15 | No | 15 | No (no punitive) | No |
| New Hampshire (Manchester) | 6 | Yes | 6 | No (no punitive) | No |
| New Jersey (Trenton) | 1 | Yes | 1 | Yes (uncapped) | Yes |
| New Mexico (Albuquerque) | 4 | Yes | 4 | No (no punitive) | No |
| New York (New York) | 4 | Yes | 4 | No (no punitive) | Yes |
| North Carolina (Charlotte) | 15 | No | 15 | No (no punitive) | No |
| North Dakota (Bismarck) | 1 | No | 1 | No (no damages) | No |
| Ohio (Columbus) | 4 | Yes | 4 | Yes (uncapped) | No |
| Oklahoma (Oklahoma City) | 1 | No | 1 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Oregon (Portland) | 1 | Yes | 6 | Yes (uncapped) | No |
| Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) | 4 | No | 4 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Rhode Island (Providence) | 4 | Yes | 4 | Yes (uncapped) | No |
| South Carolina (Columbia) | 15 | No | 15 | No (same as ADA) | No |
| South Dakota (Sioux Falls) | No law | No law | 1 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Tennessee (Memphis) | 8 | Yes | 8 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Texas (Houston) | 15 | Yes | 15 | No (same as ADA) | No |
| Utah (Salt Lake City) | 15 | No | 15 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Vermont (Burlington) | 1 | Yes | 1 | Yes (uncapped) | No |
| Virginia (Virginia Beach) | 6 | No | 1 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Washington (Seattle) | 8 | Yes | 8 | No (no punitive) | Yes |
| West Virginia (Charleston) | 12 | No | 12 | Yes (uncapped) | No |
| Wisconsin (Milwaukee) | 1 | No | 1 | No (no punitive) | No |
| Wyoming (Cheyenne) | 2 | No | 2 | No (no punitive) | No |
Notes: State laws are as of 2016. Age discrimination laws are from Neumark and Song (2013) and disability discrimination laws are from Neumark et al. (2017), but both are updated to 2016. For Maryland, under Minimum firm size, we list the value 1. This is the case for Baltimore County, from which our data come; the minimum is 15 for the rest of the state. For the states listed as “Yes” under Larger damages than ADA, but not uncapped, details are as follows: Alaska – uncapped compensatory damages, punitive damages capped above ADA levels; Maine – exceeds ADA cap for firms of 201+ employees. As discussed more in-depth in Online Appendix OB, for Connecticut the evidence favors punitive damages not being available, and compensatory damages were definitely not available.