Opinion ID: 785160
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Length of Front Pay Period

Text: 19 The Secretary also argues that even if Sellers was entitled to a front pay award, the award as made was excessive because Sellers failed to mitigate her damages by seeking a comparable job following her termination. If the district court determines on remand that Sellers' conduct did in fact render her ineligible for reinstatement, this issue need not be addressed. Front pay is an alternative remedy to reinstatement and should be unavailable where the plaintiff's own conduct prevented reinstatement. See Smith, 38 F.3d at 1466; see also McKennon, 513 U.S. at 361-62, 115 S.Ct. 879 ([A]s a general rule in cases of this type, neither reinstatement nor front pay is an appropriate remedy.). We address this issue, however, in the event that the district court determines on remand that Sellers' post-termination conduct did not in itself bar her reinstatement. 20 Sellers asked for front pay in an amount sufficient to compensate her for the difference between her then-current salary of $24,889 and her FAA salary of $106,285 at least until her mandatory retirement age of 56, a period of 19 years. The district court awarded Sellers front pay for the 20-month period between the time of the verdict and the time of the ruling on the front pay motion based on the difference between what she actually earned and what she would have earned had she remained employed by the FAA. It found Sellers' request for front pay until retirement too uncertain and awarded her an additional seven years of front pay based on the difference between her current salary as an office manager and the FAA salary to afford [Sellers] the opportunity to obtain employment with comparable compensation and responsibilities. (D. Ct. Order at 14.) 21 In declining to award Sellers front pay until she reached retirement age, the district court considered a number of factors, including her relatively young age (37), her education and extensive experience in the aeronautical field, her minimal efforts at mitigation, and the status of the aeronautical industry. Because we believe that eight years and eight months 2 is the outside limit of an appropriate front pay award given Sellers' age, education, and extensive experience (without considering any minimal mitigation attempts), we cannot say that the length of the district court's ultimate award was an abuse of discretion, especially when it considered the relevant factors. See Salitros, 306 F.3d at 570 (affirming seven-year front pay award until plaintiff's normal retirement age); United Paperworkers Int'l Union, AFL-CIO, Local 274 v. Champion Int'l Corp., 81 F.3d 798, 805 (8th Cir.1996) (expressing grave doubt that a 24-year front pay award could be upheld and stating that [i]nstead of warranting a lifetime of front pay, Fiedler's relatively young age should improve his future opportunities to mitigate through other employment); Hukkanen v. Int'l Union of Operating Eng'rs, Hoisting & Portable Local No. 101, 3 F.3d 281, 286 (8th Cir.1993) (affirming front pay award of ten years).