Opinion ID: 756659
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Paolitto's Cross-Appeal

Text: 23 Paolitto takes issue with the district court's post-trial rulings refusing to award him liquidated damages on his retaliation claim and denying his motion for equitable relief or front pay. Again, we address each argument in turn.
24 Paolitto concedes that his ADEA damage claims overlapped entirely and, accordingly, that he was not entitled to more than $100,000 in compensatory damages. The ADEA authorizes, in the case of willful discrimination, an award of liquidated damages equal to an award of compensatory damages. Section 626(b) states that the provisions of the ADEA are to be enforced in accordance with the remedies provided in, inter alia, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., and goes on to direct that [a]mounts owing under the ADEA shall be deemed to be unpaid minimum wages or unpaid overtime compensation for the purposes of [FLSA § 216], except that liquidated damages are payable only in cases of willful violations. FLSA § 216(b) provides that an employer violating the FLSA shall be liable to the employee ... affected in the amount of their unpaid minimum wages, or their unpaid overtime compensation, as the case may be, and in an additional equal amount as liquidated damages. 25 Paolitto argues that he should have been awarded $129,000 in liquidated damages. In other words, rather than arriving at a total amount of compensatory damages ($100,000) and then multiplying by two, as the Act's language seems to direct, Paolitto argues that the district court should first have multiplied all recovery under the ADEA ($100,000 for failure to promote and $29,000 for retaliation) by two and then have subtracted the overlapping compensatory damages--here, $29,000--to prevent a double recovery. Otherwise, Paolitto contends, the ADEA would provide insufficient protection to employees who suffer from multiple acts of discrimination but do not suffer multiple pecuniary injuries. 26 However, the plain language of ADEA § 626(b) and FLSA § 216(b) states that liquidated damages shall be in an amount equal to the employee's loss which, in Paolitto's case, is $100,000. 4 See generally Coston v. Plitt Theatres, Inc., 831 F.2d 1321, 1328-30 (7th Cir.1987) (discussing straight-forward language and legislative history of ADEA's liquidated-damages provision), vacated on other grounds, 486 U.S. 1020, 108 S.Ct. 1990, 100 L.Ed.2d 223 (1988). It is not our province to alter the plain meaning of statutory provisions. See Connecticut Nat'l Bank v. Germain, 503 U.S. 249, 254, 112 S.Ct. 1146, 117 L.Ed.2d 391 (1992) (When the words of a statute are unambiguous, ... 'judicial inquiry is complete.' ) (quoting Rubin v. United States, 449 U.S. 424, 430, 101 S.Ct. 698, 66 L.Ed.2d 633 (1981)). 27 United States v. Bornstein, 423 U.S. 303, 96 S.Ct. 523, 46 L.Ed.2d 514 (1976), on which Paolitto relies, is inapposite. In Bornstein, the Supreme Court held that, for purposes of the double-damages provision of the False Claims Act, now codified at 31 U.S.C. § 3370(a), the Government's actual damages are to be doubled before any subtractions are made for compensatory payments previously received. 423 U.S. at 316, 96 S.Ct. 523. Even assuming that this rule applies to the ADEA's liquidated-damages provision, an issue that we do not reach, but see Kossman v. Calumet County, 849 F.2d 1027, 1029-30 & 1029 n. 1 (7th Cir.1988) (liquidated damages under ADEA are calculated after, not before, amounts in mitigation have been subtracted from compensatory damages), the rule was not violated here. Paolitto suffered $100,000 in actual loss, which Judge Goettel doubled because Brown had willfully violated the statute. Under the plain language of ADEA § 626(b) and FLSA § 216(b), Judge Goettel did not err. 28 While Paolitto is correct that, in this case, Brown was not separately punished for retaliating against him, seeming inequities of this kind are inevitable in a statutory scheme that ties punitive damages to a plaintiff's loss. For example, an employer who willfully violates the ADEA by firing an employee earning $20,000 a year will pay less in total damages than one who non-willfully fires an employee earning $50,000 a year. The solution that Paolitto seeks to this perceived problem must, therefore, come from Congress, not this court.
29 Finally, Paolitto, who was terminated as part of a reduction in force in 1993, claims that the district court erroneously denied his motion for an equitable order appointing him to the position of Chief Structural Engineer or, in the alternative, for front pay. Paolitto's theory is that, had he been promoted in 1987, he would not have been fired in 1993. Judge Goettel denied Paolitto's motion because he had not amended his complaint to add a claim for discriminatory discharge and had not presented any theory of post-termination recovery until essentially the eve of trial. We review this denial for abuse of discretion. See EEOC v. Johnson & Higgins, Inc., 91 F.3d 1529, 1542 (2d Cir.1996). 30 We agree with Paolitto that, under the circumstances--in particular, the fact that Coleman was not terminated as part of the company-wide layoff in 1993--he need not have alleged that his termination in 1993 was discriminatory in order to recover post-termination relief. Nevertheless, we conclude that Judge Goettel acted within his discretion in denying Paolitto's motion on the ground that he had engaged in sandbagging. Paolitto repeatedly failed to respond to Brown's interrogatories and document requests regarding his claim for damages and gave no notice prior to the very eve of trial that he was seeking post-termination relief. We see no abuse of discretion in the denial of relief based on such an eleventh-hour request. 31 We therefore affirm.