Opinion ID: 794672
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: reductions to back pay awards

Text: 124 The parties also dispute whether the district court erred in calculating the back pay to which Messrs. Goodridge, Gaffney and Beardon were entitled. Specifically, Riverboat submits that, because these plaintiffs held positions after being terminated that paid a higher salary than did their positions on board the M/V Showboat, their back pay entitlements should have been adjusted downward accordingly. 125 Riverboat's contention as it relates to Mr. Beardon is without merit. Although Mr. Beardon's annual salary in various positions post-termination was greater than his annual salary at Riverboat, the court properly discounted these earnings to take into account the number of hours worked. Mr. Beardon worked an eighthour workday at Riverboat, but he worked a twelve-hour workday in both of his new, higher-paying positions. Had he only worked eight hours a day, he would have earned less than he did while employed by Riverboat, warranting back pay. 126 We next turn to Riverboat's claim concerning the calculation of Mr. Goodridge and Mr. Gaffney's earnings. In all but one of his positions after being terminated by Riverboat, Mr. Goodridge earned less than he would have earned had he remained on the M/V Showboat; the only exception is 34 days in 2002, during which he worked for MTL Lines on board a tanker. He was paid $325 per day for this 34-day period, which is $36 per day more than he made while employed by Riverboat. Riverboat contends that the district court erred in failing to subtract this amount, which totals $1,224, from his back pay award. Similarly, Mr. Gaffney lost 14 days of wages looking for work, as well as suffered miscellaneous expenses related to his termination; but, after he obtained new employment, he earned more than he did while employed by Riverboat. Riverboat submits that Mr. Gaffney's higher salary should offset any losses he suffered while unemployed. 127 In the context of a retaliatory discharge claim under OSHA § 11(c)—a statute which we have already explained is analogous to § 2114, see S.Rep. No. 98-454, at 12 (1984), as reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 4831, 4842—the court will award back pay to the plaintiffs as compensation for income that would have accrued to them had they not been wrongfully dismissed. Donovan v. Freeway Const. Co., 551 F.Supp. 869, 880 (D.R.I. 1982) (holding that the plaintiffs were entitled to the differential between their new and old wages); see also Martin v. H.M.S. Direct Mail Serv., Inc., 936 F.2d 108, 109 (2d Cir.1991) (holding that the plaintiff was entitled to back pay for the differential between unemployment compensation received and the salary he would have earned if not terminated). In other words, under OSHA, [t]he award of back pay must be reduced by the amount of any income from employment earned by complainants during the period covered by the back pay award. Donovan, 551 F.Supp. at 880; see also Martin, 936 F.2d at 109 (subtracting from the back pay award unemployment compensation received). This same rule applies in the analogous context of Title VII. See, e.g., Chesser v. Illinois, 895 F.2d 330, 338 (7th Cir.1990). 128 The district court, in calculating back pay entitlements, implicitly 38 made a factual determination that the period during which Mr. Goodridge was eligible for back pay—and thus the period in which his earnings should be subtracted from his back pay award—terminated when his employment with MTL Lines began; it therefore awarded back pay for losses suffered up until mid-2002, when Mr. Goodridge took this position. As for Mr. Gaffney, the district court held that the 14-day period between termination and obtaining new employment was the period in which he was entitled to back pay and calculated equitable relief accordingly. These factual conclusions shall be reversed only if clearly erroneous. See Matthews v. A-1, Inc., 748 F.2d 975, 978-79 (5th Cir.1984) (reviewing the district court's refus[al] to deduct [the plaintiff's] earnings at a higher paying position from her damage award for clear error). 129 The district court's conclusions are not clearly erroneous, but rather are consistent with the calculation of the period in which a plaintiff is entitled to back pay in a variety of analogous contexts. For example, in the context of Title VII, a plaintiff is eligible for back pay from the date of her injury to the date that she acquires a higher-paying job. See id. at 978. The same is true in the context of both OSHA § 11(c), see Donovan v. George Lai Contracting, Ltd., 629 F.Supp. 121, 122-23 (W.D.Mo.1985) (awarding back pay for the period between termination and obtaining new employment), and the ADEA, see Stephens v. C.I.T. Group/Equip. Fin., Inc., 955 F.2d 1023, 1029 (5th Cir.1992); Kolb v. Goldring, Inc., 694 F.2d 869, 874 (1st Cir. 1982). 130 Therefore, although Mr. Goodridge and Mr. Gaffney are not entitled to back pay for any period in which they earned the same or more than they would have earned at Riverboat, their `excess' earnings are not to be subtracted from the back-pay award for the period of unemployment. Skalka v. Fernald Envtl. Restoration Mgmt. Corp., 178 F.3d 414, 426 (6th Cir.1999) (discussing back pay for violation of the ADEA). Indeed, Riverboat has referred us to no case in which the plaintiffs' excess income—earned after the period of time covered by the back pay award—was subtracted from losses suffered during the applicable period of either unemployment or underemployment. In this light, we conclude that the district court did not err in refusing to subtract from their back pay awards Mr. Goodridge's earnings for the 34 days in which he was employed by MTL Lines and Mr. Gaffney's earnings after he obtained new employment.