No universal headcount rule decides every case. Explain how the change affects the applicant’s actual duties and whether they remain principally managerial or executive.
Assess the operational consequence
Do not preserve a departed employee on the chart as if still performing the work.
The regulations define managerial capacity to include an employee who manages an essential function within the organization, exercises discretion over its day-to-day operations and works at a senior level in the hierarchy. L-1A requires a corporate link as parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate and one uninterrupted full-time year abroad in a managerial, executive, or specialized-knowledge capacity during the relevant preceding three-year period. Negotiating policy or directing an essential function may support L-1A, whereas personally delivering routine sales or installation work may weigh against a role that must be primarily managerial or executive. Executive capacity turns on directing the management of the organization with wide discretion under only general supervision; managerial capacity turns on managing a department, function or subdivision and supervising professional or supervisory staff. A company asserts that the position it offers sits in managerial or executive capacity and that a qualifying relationship exists; the applicant supplies the year of qualifying employment abroad within the preceding three years.