Opinion ID: 454641
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Back Pay Awards

Text: 12 The Secretary contends that the Commission erred in denying James Parker back pay, and in reducing the award to Joe Brown by one week's back pay. The Secretary does not dispute the Commission's finding that Parker wholly failed to seek other employment, and that Brown failed to make a diligent search for other employment for the first week following his discharge by Metric. Rather, the Secretary maintains that the Commission should not have reached the question of Complainant's efforts to seek other work. Metric, the Secretary asserts, could establish an affirmative defense of willful loss of earnings only by showing first that suitable employment was available, and second, that the discharged employees failed to make a diligent effort to obtain such employment. Because Metric failed to show that suitable employment was available to Complainants, the second prong of the affirmative defense, Complainant's job search efforts, should not have been considered. In support of this two-prong formulation of the willful loss of earnings defense, the Secretary cites several cases under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1984. 13 The Commission rejected the Secretary's presentation of this two-prong approach, holding that Parker's and Brown's failure to seek diligently other employment required adjustments of their back pay awards. In holding that an employee must engage in reasonable exertions to find employment regardless of the availability of work, the Commission noted its practice of turning to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) as a model in fashioning back pay awards. See Secretary ex rel. Dunmire and Estle v. Northern Coal Co., 4 FMSHRC 126, 142 (1982) (because remedy provisions of Mine Act are modeled on section 10(c) of the NLRA, it is within the Commission's broad discretion in fashioning remedies to look to precedent under the NLRA). See also Secretary ex rel. Gooslin v. Kentucky Carbon Corp., 4 FMSHRC 1, 2 (1982). The Commission then cited several cases under the NLRA holding that an employer is not required to show that a discriminatee would have found suitable employment had he only made the requisite search. See, e.g., NLRB v. Madison Courier Inc., 472 F.2d 1307, 1317-19 (D.C.Cir.1972); Knickerbocker Plastic Co., Inc., 132 NLRB 1209, 1219 (1961) (We do not [believe] that it must appear that [the discriminatee] could have procured [suitable employment] before he can be found to have incurred a willful loss by the failure to apply for it. It is incumbent on a claimant to seek a job for which he has extensive experience); American Bottling Co., 116 NLRB 1303, 1307 (1956) (It is our view that a condition precedent to any award of back pay is due diligence on the part of the discharged employee to find other work.... This being so, with such diligence lacking, the circumstance of a scarcity of work and the possibility that none would have been found even with the use diligence is irrelevant). 14 We affirm the Commission's disposition of the back pay issue. Section 105(c)(2) of the Mine Act, 30 U.S.C. Sec. 815(c)(2) provides that [t]he Commission shall have authority ... to require a person committing a violation of [Sec. 105(c)(1) ] to take such affirmative action to abate the violation as the Commission deems appropriate, including, but not limited to, the rehiring or reinstatement of the miner to his former position with back pay and interest. (Emphasis added). We think the Commission acted within its jurisdiction in following cases under the NLRA; thus, we cannot say that the Commission's denial of Parker's back pay and reduction of Brown's back pay was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. See 5 U.S.C. Sec. 706 (1982). See also Consolo v. Federal Maritime Commission, 383 U.S. 607, 620-21, 86 S.Ct. 1018, 1026-27, 16 L.Ed.2d 131 (1966) (Congress has placed a premium upon agency expertise in fashioning remedies; reviewing courts should rarely substitute their discretion for that of the agency).