Opinion ID: 764814
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Banks's Appeal

Text: 13
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
20 The ADEA confers upon the courts a broad grant of remedial authority with which district judges are encouraged to fashion remedies designed to ensure that victims of age discrimination are made whole. Whittlesey v. Union Carbide Corp., 742 F.2d 724, 727-28 (2d Cir.1984). Among the forms of equitable relief explicitly authorized by the ADEA is reinstatement of the plaintiff's employment. See 29 U.S.C. § 626(b). We have recognized, however, that reinstatement is not always feasible for instance, because no position may be available or because animosity may impede the resumption of a reasonable employer-employee relationship. See Kirsch, 148 F.3d at 169; Whittlesey, 742 F.2d at 728. In such situations, the district court is empowered to order a reasonable monetary award of front pay, Whittlesey, 742 F.2d at 728 that is, an award of future lost earnings, United States v. Burke, 504 U.S. 229, 239 n. 9, 112 S.Ct. 1867, 119 L.Ed.2d 34 (1992) (defining front pay). In contrast to back pay, which is determined by the jury in calculating the plaintiff's damages, an award of front pay under the ADEA is exclusively within the court's equitable discretion. See Dominic v. Consolidated Edison Co., 822 F.2d 1249, 1257-58 (2d Cir.1987). 21 In the instant case, following the jury's verdict, Banks moved for reinstatement or, in the alternative, for front pay. The district court denied the motion, in respect to both reinstatement and front pay, on the ground that the evidence did not logically allow the inference that plaintiff would have been retained following the April 1996 reduction in force. In addition, the court stated that reinstatement would be inappropriate in light of the animosity that had developed between plaintiff and her employer as a result of this litigation. 22 Because front pay and reinstatement are forward-looking remedies, they are inappropriate where the employment term would already have ended by the time of judgment. See Kirsch, 148 F.3d at 169; see also Geller v. Markham, 635 F.2d 1027, 1036 (2d Cir.1980) (reinstatement unwarranted where plaintiff had been hired only for a one-year term and that term had expired). However, as discussed in the previous section, the district court erred in concluding that plaintiff had not introduced evidence from which it could be inferred that she would have been retained after April 1996 had she not been discharged discriminatorily in 1994. It follows, therefore, that prospective relief was not precluded altogether. 23 We remand to the district court for further consideration, in the exercise of its informed equitable discretion, of the prospective remedies of reinstatement and front pay. The parties divide as to whether the court had before it evidence of animosity sufficient to justify the denial of reinstatement. 5 We do not pass upon this issue, but leave it to the district court in the first instance. If there is a lacuna in the record evidence, the parties should be afforded an opportunity to fill it on remand.
24 Finally, Banks challenges the district court's denial of her post-verdict motion for the restoration of her lost pension benefits. The district court ruled that what it termed damages for the loss of pension benefits amount to legal rather than equitable relief, and must accordingly be awarded by the jury rather than the judge. See generally Dominic, 822 F.2d at 1257 (under the ADEA, the jury finds facts relating to legal claims, whereas the court makes findings relating to equitable claims). Because Banks waited until after the jury's verdict to request such relief, the court reasoned that her claim was untimely. 25 Had Banks actually requested money damages for lost pension benefits, the district court might well have been right to deem that form of relief legal, and to rule Banks's post-verdict application untimely. But it is clear from Banks's motion as well as her supporting memorandum of law that she sought the restoration of benefits ... including ... pension credits. And we have squarely held that lost pension rights ... fall within the category of equitable relief. Geller, 635 F.2d at 1036. Unlike damage awards, which are payable to the plaintiff, pension benefits are paid into pension annuity funds. They merely replace the benefits that would have accrued during the [period] of employment wrongfully denied to [the plaintiff]. Id. Thus, the district court erred in ruling that Banks's claim for pension benefits should have been presented to the jury, and that it was therefore untimely when presented in a post-verdict motion. 6 26 We conclude that Banks's motion was properly presented to the district court, and that its merits should be considered by the judge on remand.