Opinion ID: 387362
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure of Attorney's Fees to Deter Discrimination by the Government

Text: 235 Attorney's fees are meant to serve some purpose of deterring discrimination. They doubtless do in the private sector. 9 But when attorney's fees come straight out of the United States Treasury, as in the present case, they exert no deterrent effect whatsoever against the persons responsible for the discrimination. In the private sector there is a justifiable punitive element. Attorney's fees impact on the profit picture of the corporation; the same executive management which is responsible for tolerating or encouraging discrimination are the same executives who are responsible for the profit of the corporation, so they are penalized in the pocketbook. No such deterrence applies to the Government, i. e., the Labor Department budget was never touched, will never be touched, by the award of Judge Gesell in this case. Both the back pay and the attorney's fee come out of the general taxpayer contributed funds of the U. S. Treasury. By their strict analogy to the private sector, the majority has validated deterrent or punitive action against the U. S. taxpayer. 236