446 CLACKAMAS GASTROENTEROLOGY ASSOCIATES,
P. C. v. WELLS
Opinion of the Court
"those who are properly classified as partners are not 'employees' for purposes of the anti-discrimination statutes"). The question whether a shareholder-director is an employee, however, cannot be answered by asking whether the shareholder-director appears to be the functional equivalent of a partner. Today there are partnerships that include hundreds of members, some of whom may well qualify as "employees" because control is concentrated in a small number of managing partners. Cf. Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U. S. 69, 79, n. 2 (1984) (Powell, J., concurring) ("[A]n employer may not evade the strictures of Title VII simply by labeling its employees as 'partners' "); EEOC v. Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, 315 F. 3d 696, 709 (CA7 2002) (Easterbrook, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment); Strother v. Southern California Permanente Medical Group, 79 F. 3d 859 (CA9 1996). Thus, asking whether shareholder-directors are partners—rather than asking whether they are employees—simply begs the question.
Nor does the approach adopted by the Court of Appeals in this case fare any better. The majority's approach, which paid particular attention to "the broad purpose of the ADA," 271 F. 3d, at 905, is consistent with the statutory purpose of ridding the Nation of the evil of discrimination. See 42 U. S. C. § 12101(b).6 Nevertheless, two countervailing considerations must be weighed in the balance. First, as the
6 The meaning of the term "employee" comes into play when determining whether an individual is an "employee" who may invoke the ADA's protections against discrimination in "hiring, advancement, or discharge," 42 U. S. C. § 12112(a), as well as when determining whether an individual is an "employee" for purposes of the 15-employee threshold. See § 12111(5)(A); see also Brief for United States et al. as Amici Curiae 10-11; Schmidt v. Ottawa Medical Center, P. C., 322 F. 3d 461 (CA7 2003). Consequently, a broad reading of the term "employee" would—consistent with the statutory purpose of ridding the Nation of discrimination—tend to expand the coverage of the ADA by enlarging the number of employees entitled to protection and by reducing the number of firms entitled to exemption.
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