Opinion ID: 794672
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Calculation of Back Pay Awards

Text: 114 Riverboat also submits that, although the statute explicitly authorizes the district court to award the plaintiffs back pay for lost income, the district court erred in its calculations. Specifically, Riverboat contends that the plaintiffs did not mitigate their damages by immediately seeking re-employment, but instead spent significant amounts of time walking the picket line, taking various classes and traveling after being terminated by Riverboat. Riverboat also submits that the district court failed to calculate carefully the income earned by each plaintiff post-termination. 115
116 The plaintiffs were required to mitigate their damages by using reasonable diligence in seeking employment after their terminations. However, because the lack of mitigation is an affirmative defense, the burden of proof for this issue falls on the employer. See Hutchison v. Amateur Elec. Supply, Inc., 42 F.3d 1037, 1044 (7th Cir.1994) (discussing mitigation rules applicable to the calculation of damages under Title VII). The district court found that Riverboat had failed to meet this burden. After four days of testimony at trial detailing with particularity the plaintiffs' post-termination activities, including the specifics of their job search efforts, the district court decided that the plaintiffs had made reasonable efforts to find new employment. The court recognized that various plaintiffs walked the picket line in front of the M/V Showboat, R.191 at 30-33, and that some plaintiffs took time off after being terminated to attend various classes, id. at 31-32. However, it concluded that the defendants had not proven that the plaintiffs failed to mitigate their damages; instead, the evidence showed that the plaintiffs walked the picket line for negligible amounts of time, and were actively seeking employment during that time. Id. at 35. We are bound by these findings unless they are clearly erroneous. See Wichmann v. Bd. of Trs. of S. Illinois Univ., 180 F.3d 791, 805 (7th Cir.1999). 117 The defendants have provided us very little reason to question the district court's findings. For example, Riverboat offers no evidence refuting the testimony that the union was actively looking for employment on behalf of some of the plaintiffs during the weeks and months after their terminations. 36 Nor does Riverboat challenge the district court's finding that the plaintiffs were able to actively seek[] employment while also walking the picket line, a finding that is aptly supported by the plaintiffs' testimony. 37 R.191 at 35. From this evidence, we conclude that the plaintiffs demonstrat[ed] a continuing commitment to be a member of the work force after being discharged by Riverboat. Donnelly v. Yellow Freight Sys., Inc., 874 F.2d 402, 411 (7th Cir.1989) (discussing Title VII mitigation requirements). 118 The same is true of the classes taken by three of the plaintiffs post-termination. Riverboat does not contest the district court's conclusion that compensation for the time spent engaging in alternative activities is appropriate, given that, had the plaintiffs not been discharged, they would have no need to engage in such activities. Id. at 34-35. Further, this conclusion is consistent with our case law. See David v. Caterpillar, Inc., 324 F.3d 851, 866 (7th Cir.2003) (rejecting the argument that the plaintiff's back pay award should be reduced to take into account a term of voluntary educational leave and holding that, had the plaintiff been properly promoted, she would not have taken the educational leave). 119 Additionally, even if the defendants' view of the evidence was a legitimate interpretation of the underlying events, we cannot conclude that the district court's finding—that the plaintiffs' efforts to find alternative work were reasonable—is clearly erroneous. Cf. Kasper v. St. Mary of Nazareth Hosp., 135 F.3d 1170, 1176 (7th Cir.1998) (holding that testimony concerning whether employee failed to mitigate damages is a question of credibility and deferring to jury's assessment of whether or not to believe him). 120
121 Riverboat also challenges the district court's calculation of the plaintiffs' lost earnings. As in other retaliatory discharge contexts, salary earned after a plaintiff is terminated should be deducted from the back pay otherwise allowable. Cf. Donnelly, 874 F.2d at 411 (discussing calculation of damages under Title VII). In this case, the district court detailed with precision the salaries earned by the plaintiffs after being discharged by Riverboat; the number of work days missed between their terminations and finding new employment; and the income earned, and hours worked, in their new positions in relation to their salaries and hours while employed by Riverboat. See R.191 at 30-36. In reviewing the claim for `loss of wages,' we note that we are bound by the district court's determination as to the appropriate amount of damages unless that determination is clearly erroneous. Fleming v. County of Kane, 898 F.2d 553, 560 (7th Cir.1990). 122 To be sure, the testimony of some of the plaintiffs on this issue is slightly vague. For example, Mr. Palmer responded to a question about his income in 1998 with, Maybe $30,000. I don't know. Tr.III at 91. He then estimated that his income for the next few years was [p]robably somewhere in the same ball park. Id. Nevertheless, Riverboat has failed to offer any evidence that Mr. Palmer's estimate that he earned $30,000 per annum does not reflect accurately his actual income. In calculating lost income, the district court is free to credit the plaintiffs' testimony regarding their sources and level of income. In this respect, the record supports the district court's conclusion that Mr. Palmer earned $30,000 a year in his new position, $20,020 less than his annual salary while employed by Riverboat. 123
124 The parties also dispute whether the district court erred in calculating the back pay to which Messrs. Goodridge, Gaffney and Beardon were entitled. Specifically, Riverboat submits that, because these plaintiffs held positions after being terminated that paid a higher salary than did their positions on board the M/V Showboat, their back pay entitlements should have been adjusted downward accordingly. 125 Riverboat's contention as it relates to Mr. Beardon is without merit. Although Mr. Beardon's annual salary in various positions post-termination was greater than his annual salary at Riverboat, the court properly discounted these earnings to take into account the number of hours worked. Mr. Beardon worked an eighthour workday at Riverboat, but he worked a twelve-hour workday in both of his new, higher-paying positions. Had he only worked eight hours a day, he would have earned less than he did while employed by Riverboat, warranting back pay. 126 We next turn to Riverboat's claim concerning the calculation of Mr. Goodridge and Mr. Gaffney's earnings. In all but one of his positions after being terminated by Riverboat, Mr. Goodridge earned less than he would have earned had he remained on the M/V Showboat; the only exception is 34 days in 2002, during which he worked for MTL Lines on board a tanker. He was paid $325 per day for this 34-day period, which is $36 per day more than he made while employed by Riverboat. Riverboat contends that the district court erred in failing to subtract this amount, which totals $1,224, from his back pay award. Similarly, Mr. Gaffney lost 14 days of wages looking for work, as well as suffered miscellaneous expenses related to his termination; but, after he obtained new employment, he earned more than he did while employed by Riverboat. Riverboat submits that Mr. Gaffney's higher salary should offset any losses he suffered while unemployed. 127 In the context of a retaliatory discharge claim under OSHA § 11(c)—a statute which we have already explained is analogous to § 2114, see S.Rep. No. 98-454, at 12 (1984), as reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 4831, 4842—the court will award back pay to the plaintiffs as compensation for income that would have accrued to them had they not been wrongfully dismissed. Donovan v. Freeway Const. Co., 551 F.Supp. 869, 880 (D.R.I. 1982) (holding that the plaintiffs were entitled to the differential between their new and old wages); see also Martin v. H.M.S. Direct Mail Serv., Inc., 936 F.2d 108, 109 (2d Cir.1991) (holding that the plaintiff was entitled to back pay for the differential between unemployment compensation received and the salary he would have earned if not terminated). In other words, under OSHA, [t]he award of back pay must be reduced by the amount of any income from employment earned by complainants during the period covered by the back pay award. Donovan, 551 F.Supp. at 880; see also Martin, 936 F.2d at 109 (subtracting from the back pay award unemployment compensation received). This same rule applies in the analogous context of Title VII. See, e.g., Chesser v. Illinois, 895 F.2d 330, 338 (7th Cir.1990). 128 The district court, in calculating back pay entitlements, implicitly 38 made a factual determination that the period during which Mr. Goodridge was eligible for back pay—and thus the period in which his earnings should be subtracted from his back pay award—terminated when his employment with MTL Lines began; it therefore awarded back pay for losses suffered up until mid-2002, when Mr. Goodridge took this position. As for Mr. Gaffney, the district court held that the 14-day period between termination and obtaining new employment was the period in which he was entitled to back pay and calculated equitable relief accordingly. These factual conclusions shall be reversed only if clearly erroneous. See Matthews v. A-1, Inc., 748 F.2d 975, 978-79 (5th Cir.1984) (reviewing the district court's refus[al] to deduct [the plaintiff's] earnings at a higher paying position from her damage award for clear error). 129 The district court's conclusions are not clearly erroneous, but rather are consistent with the calculation of the period in which a plaintiff is entitled to back pay in a variety of analogous contexts. For example, in the context of Title VII, a plaintiff is eligible for back pay from the date of her injury to the date that she acquires a higher-paying job. See id. at 978. The same is true in the context of both OSHA § 11(c), see Donovan v. George Lai Contracting, Ltd., 629 F.Supp. 121, 122-23 (W.D.Mo.1985) (awarding back pay for the period between termination and obtaining new employment), and the ADEA, see Stephens v. C.I.T. Group/Equip. Fin., Inc., 955 F.2d 1023, 1029 (5th Cir.1992); Kolb v. Goldring, Inc., 694 F.2d 869, 874 (1st Cir. 1982). 130 Therefore, although Mr. Goodridge and Mr. Gaffney are not entitled to back pay for any period in which they earned the same or more than they would have earned at Riverboat, their `excess' earnings are not to be subtracted from the back-pay award for the period of unemployment. Skalka v. Fernald Envtl. Restoration Mgmt. Corp., 178 F.3d 414, 426 (6th Cir.1999) (discussing back pay for violation of the ADEA). Indeed, Riverboat has referred us to no case in which the plaintiffs' excess income—earned after the period of time covered by the back pay award—was subtracted from losses suffered during the applicable period of either unemployment or underemployment. In this light, we conclude that the district court did not err in refusing to subtract from their back pay awards Mr. Goodridge's earnings for the 34 days in which he was employed by MTL Lines and Mr. Gaffney's earnings after he obtained new employment.