Opinion ID: 764814
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jury Instruction Precluding Post-April 1996 Back Pay

Text: 14 Banks first faults the district court for ruling that the evidence did not permit a reasonable finder of fact to infer that Banks would have been retained following the April 1, 1996 reduction in force. Banks argues that the jury's verdict in her favor could have permissibly been based on a determination that Banks was terminated on the basis of age rather than on the basis of Dvorachek's superior qualifications. Banks further argues that if the jury concluded that Dvorachek's skills were not superior to Banks's, then it would be entitled to infer that Banks would have survived any reduction in force that had not resulted in Dvorachek's termination. The district court ruled that any such inference would be entirely too speculative, and thus instructed the jury that it could not award back pay for the period after the April 1, 1996 reduction in force. 15 We agree with Banks that such an inference was permissible. We considered a similar argument in Paolitto v. John Brown E. & C., Inc., 151 F.3d 60 (2d Cir.1998) an appeal decided after judgment had already entered in the instant case. In Paolitto, the plaintiff prevailed on a claim that his employer had violated the ADEA by promoting a younger worker instead of the plaintiff in 1987. Because the plaintiff had been terminated on concededly nondiscriminatory grounds in 1993, however, the district court refused to award post-termination relief. On appeal, we agree[d] with Paolitto that, under the circumstances in particular the fact that [the younger employee promoted in 1987] was not terminated as part of the company-wide layoff in 1993 [plaintiff] need not have alleged that his termination in 1993 was discriminatory in order to recover post-termination relief. 3 Id. at 68. Like the plaintiff in Paolitto, Banks was entitled to argue that, but for the earlier act of discrimination, she would have been retained amid the employer's subsequent layoffs. A jury would be permitted but not necessarily required to accept that inference. 16 Travelers draws to our attention record evidence indicating that Dvorachek was not merely retained in April 1996, but received a promotion as a result of the competitive process for the positions remaining after the April 1996 reduction in force. While the evidence does show that Dvorachek herself received a pay-grade promotion, the record is silent as to whether the only remaining positions were for that higher pay grade. Travelers may argue to the jury that Banks would not have been retained in April 1996 for example, because her skills would not have rendered her as well suited as Dvorachek to fill any of the remaining positions. But we do not see the evidence in this case commanding such an inference in Travelers' favor. 17 Accordingly, we hold that the district court erred in instructing the jury that it could not award damages for the period from April 1, 1996 to the date of the verdict, and we remand the cause for a new trial, limited only to damages, see, e.g., Annis v. County of Westchester, 136 F.3d 239, 249 (2d Cir.1998) (affirming as to liability, but vacating damages award and remanding for new trial as to damages), 4 in which the parties will be entitled to present to the jury, inter alia, their respective arguments relating to post-April 1996 back pay. 18 We have held that [a] plaintiff who has proven a discharge in violation of the ADEA is, as a general matter, entitled to backpay from the date of discharge until the date of judgment. Kirsch v. Fleet St., Ltd., 148 F.3d 149, 167 (2d Cir.1998) (emphasis added); accord Dunlap-McCuller v. Riese Org., 980 F.2d 153, 159 (2d Cir.1992). In calculating its back pay award, the jury will obviously not be able to anticipate the date on which judgment will enter. Accordingly, any lag time between the jury's verdict and the district court's ultimate judgment ordinarily should be remedied by the court, in the form of a pro rata increase of the back pay award. Cf. Nord v. United States Steel Corp., 758 F.2d 1462, 1472-73 (11th Cir.1985) (back pay award should extend to date of judgment, rather than to earlier date on which court announced findings of fact following bench trial). 19