Opinion ID: 1937046
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Award of Front and Back Pay.

Text: This court's affirmance of the Commission's finding that Sires was constructively discharged renders moot VMI's argument that Sires was not entitled to front pay and back pay because she voluntarily quit. Our decision also means Sires' earnings loss must be computed on the basis of her actual earnings during the relevant period rather than what she would have earned at VMI had she not resigned. The only remaining issue, then, is VMI's challenge to the court of appeals' ruling that the Commission employed the wrong baseline for measuring front pay and back pay. In considering this issue, we first acknowledge that the calculation of front pay and back pay is a judgment call within the province of the commission and not the court. Hy-Vee Food Stores, Inc., 453 N.W.2d at 532. Nonetheless, the agency must exercise its judgment within the framework of the legal principles governing the proof and measurement of this element of damage. Thus, our focus here is on the Commission's application of these legal principles, not its factual findings. We start with the proposition that absolute precision in proving what an employee would have earned but for the employer's discrimination is not required. Id. at 530. Furthermore, because the difficulty in determining what an employee would have earned is often the result of the employer's discriminatory wage structure, any uncertainties in computing back pay are resolved against the employer. Id. An appropriate yardstick for measuring damages resulting from sexual discrimination is what comparable male employees are earning. Id. at 531. With these parameters in mind, we first examine the Commission's decision. The Commission observed that there was general confusion as to the title and role of `local leader.' No job description had ever been prepared; these positions were not advertised or posted; and the company had no official salary range for the job. The lack of clarity in the job duties of a local leader resulted from VMI's practice of filling positions by hand-picking employees (generally men) for promotion, rather than advertising or posting such opportunities. This practice eliminated the need for formal job descriptions that could be posted and advertised. Although the parameters of the local leader position lacked precision, the record shows that Meyers, who was making $50,000 as an outside salesman, received a $2000 raise when he was made the local leader. In addition, Meyers testified that $50,000 was the general pay range for the local leader position. The Commission concluded [t]he only helpful evidence in computing back pay is the fact that in moving to the `local leader' position, Meyers received $2000 more per year. It concluded, therefore, that Sires too would have received a $2000 raise had she been designated the local leader, making her salary in that position $31,140. The Commission then calculated back pay and front pay based on the difference between what Sires actually earned and the $31,140 she would have received as a local leader position. The Commission refused to use Meyers' $50,000 or $52,000 salary for this purpose because he was an outside salesman, which was an entirely different job from Sires' position as operations manager. The error in this reasoning is the Commission's failure to apply the principle that any uncertainty in determining what a claimant would make in the new position is resolved against the employer. Here, the Commission was apparently concerned that the local leader position was not clearly defined and there was no official salary for the position. Therefore, it assumed Sires would have remained the operations manager while serving as the local leader and her operations manager responsibilities would have driven her salary, not her responsibilities as local leader. This uncertainty was clearly attributable, however, to VMI's discriminatory practices. Therefore, the Commission, rather than assuming Sires would have been paid less than other local leaders because of her operations duties, should have resolved this lack of clarity against the company. Id. (suggesting that where difficulty in determining damages arises from employer's discriminatory conduct, the fact finder should resolve uncertainties against the employer, relying on just and reasonable inferences). We agree with the court of appeals (though for a different reason) that once the Commission found Sires had been denied the local leader position on the basis of sex, it was the salary earned by local leaders that should have provided the baseline against which her loss was measured. The record was undisputed that the salary range for local leaders was $50,000, and that Meyers earned $52,000 in this job. Thus, Sires' earnings loss should have been measured by the difference between her actual earnings and $52,000, the sum earned by Meyers in the position discriminatorily denied to Sires. See EEOC v. Delight Wholesale Co., 973 F.2d 664, 670 (8th Cir.1992) (affirming district court's decision to use the salary for the position comparable to the one the claimant was unlawfully denied as the baseline to determine the back pay award); Stallworth v. Shuler, 777 F.2d 1431, 1435 (11th Cir.1985) (requiring defendant, who had discriminatorily failed to promote the claimant, to pay damages based on the highest salary paid to persons holding position denied the claimant); Grimes v. Athens Newspaper, Inc., 604 F.Supp. 1166, 1167 (M.D.Ga.1985) (measuring damages of female copy editors by highest amount paid male employees doing the same work). Because the Commission did not properly apply the rules governing the computation of front pay and back pay, its calculation of these damages must be corrected. Measuring Sires' earnings loss using the sum paid to Meyers as a baseline, her back pay award must be increased to $94,104 and her front pay award to $21,638. [5]