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

Heading: Dollar Amount of Front Pay Award

Text: 22 We believe, however, that the district court did abuse its discretion by not reducing the annual amount it used to calculate Sellers' award to reflect Sellers' failure to mitigate. Following Sellers' termination, she worked as a loan officer and an office manager, both of which paid an annual salary of approximately $25,000. The district court specifically found: 23 Although [Sellers'] air traffic experience would qualify her for employment with private aviation contractors, including jobs such as airline and/or law enforcement dispatcher, consultant, or with private air traffic control towers, [Sellers] sought no such employment. Instead, [Sellers] sought relatively low paying jobs, and the nature of the great majority of jobs for which [Sellers] applied was in no way related to the field of aviation. 24 (D. Ct. Order at 5.) To avoid a reduction in her front pay award, Sellers had a duty to mitigate her damages by seeking comparable employment. See Denesha v. Farmers Ins. Exch., 161 F.3d 491, 502 (8th Cir.1998). While the district court found that she did not adequately attempt to mitigate her damages, it failed to sufficiently reflect her failure in its award. See id. (affirming reduction in front pay award where plaintiff failed to make some sustained minimal attempt to obtain comparable employment). The district court's award at a differential between the actual and FAA salaries does not adequately account for her failure to mitigate. As relevant on remand, the district court should determine an amount that Sellers could have earned if she had attempted to find comparable work, and reduce any award accordingly. See id. ([A]n amount equal to what Denesha would have earned if he had made reasonable mitigation efforts was properly subtracted from his award.).