Opinion ID: 185639
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Future Lost Earnings (Front Pay)

Text: 22 Although appellee argues that the front pay issue was not properly preserved for appeal, we agree with appellant that it was. It is clear from the district court's Memorandum Opinion filed May 24, 2000, that appellant had raised the issue of the amount of front pay to the district court: [T]he defendant asserts ... that any front pay award in excess of a few years is unduly speculative. Thus, the question is whether the award of $377,615.72 in future lost earnings was an abuse of discretion. We determine that it was. 23 In Barbour v. Merrill, 48 F.3d 1270 (D.C.Cir.1995), cert. dismissed, 516 U.S. 1155, 116 S.Ct. 1037, 134 L.Ed.2d 113 (1996), we articulated factors to be considered in calculating front pay. Certain considerations including whether an award of front pay would be `unduly speculative,' may in some circumstances limit the court's discretion. Id. at 1280. The longer a proposed front pay period, the more speculative the damages become. McKnight v. GM, 973 F.2d 1366, 1372 (7th Cir.1992). Here the award of 26 years of front pay was unduly speculative and therefore an abuse of discretion. Contrary to the district court's understanding, Barbour does not hold that a plaintiff's intention to remain at her employer until retirement, even if that intention is entirely reasonable, automatically entitles front pay for the remainder of her work life. Rather, Barbour includes a list of non-exhaustive factors to consider, including age. See Barbour, 48 F.3d at 1280. Indeed, Barbour specifically suggests that the district court consider the length of time employees in similar positions stay at the defendant employer as well as at other employers, the time required to secure similar employment, and other factors. Id. Moreover, on remand, the district court in Barbour only awarded one year of front pay, which was affirmed by this Court. See Barbour v. Merrill, 132 F.3d 1480 (D.C.Cir.1997) (Table). Neither the district court nor appellee cites any case which suggests that an employee's subjective intent to remain at a job until retirement, by itself, justifies an award of front pay for the rest of her career. 24 While some speculation is necessary to determine front pay, here the appellee produced no expert testimony concerning her earning potential, nor did the district court examine what positions were available in the private sector comparable to a journeyman proofreader position at GPO. The plaintiff bears the initial burden of providing the district court `with the essential data necessary to calculate a reasonably certain front pay award.' Barbour, 48 F.3d at 1279 (quoting McKnight, 973 F.2d at 1372). However, here the district court simply calculated the difference between pay at Bowne and GPO, and assumed that appellee would have stayed at Bowne for the rest of her career. In fact, Peyton had only been working at Bowne a little over a month when the trial began. Further, the district court took judicial notice that Ms. Peyton can expect to receive regular and incremental increases in compensation as an employee of Bowne, Inc., as she would have as an employee of the GPO. But the evidence does not reflect how such increases would compare between the public and private sectors. Moreover, there is no evidence in the record that salaries at Bowne represent a fair sample of the market or the industry standard in the private sector. Nor does evidence in the record support the finding that the GPO proofreading job provided Peyton an optimum and unparalleled occasion to earn a handsome living. Appellee's assertion that the GPO position was an unusually high paying job is also without basis. Indeed, none of the citations to the Joint Appendix in her brief support appellee's claim that her witnesses testified about the uncommonly high compensation for the GPO position. Finally, appellee does not substantiate her claim that she is not generally able to pursue jobs in the future that will be essentially comparable to the job she lost. In sum, we cannot uphold the determination of front pay. 25 The Ninth Circuit's decision in Gotthardt v. National RR Passenger Corp., 191 F.3d 1148 (9th Cir.1999), does not alter our analysis. That case involved a 59 year-old employee approaching retirement who had been truly incapacitated by the employer's wrongful conduct and could not enter another career. See id. at 1156. Given those circumstances, the Ninth Circuit upheld a front pay award that compensated future lost earnings through the mandatory retirement age of 70: Although an eleven-year front pay award seems generous, the district court explicitly found that Gotthardt would be unable to work in the future, taking into account her age (59), her educational and vocational background, and, especially, her health. Id. at 1157. The Gotthardt court noted that these were unique circumstances, because front pay is intended to be temporary in nature. Id. (quoting Cassino v. Reichhold Chemicals, Inc., 817 F.2d 1338, 1347 (9th Cir.1987)). Similarly, in Davis v. Combustion Engineering, Inc., 742 F.2d 916, 923 (6th Cir.1984), the Sixth Circuit upheld an award of front pay to a 59 year-old plaintiff but noted that front pay for a 41 year-old plaintiff until retirement age might be unwarranted. Indeed, [o]ther courts seem to agree that plaintiffs in their forties are too young for lifetime front pay awards. Stafford v. Electronic Data Systems Corp., 749 F.Supp. 781, 789 (E.D.Mich.1990) (citing Bailey v. Container Corporation of America, 660 F.Supp. 1048 (S.D.Ohio 1986); Foit v. Suburban Bancorp, 549 F.Supp. 264, 267 (D.Md. 1982); Monroe v. Penn-Dixie Cement Corp., 335 F.Supp. 231, 235 (N.D. Ga.1971)). 26 To award Peyton front pay based on the assumption that she will continue in an allegedly low-paying job (compared to a journeyman proofreader at GPO) for a full career, when she is only 34 years old and not incapacitated, is to give her a tremendous windfall rather than to make her whole. There is no reason to assume that if she is, in fact, qualified for a high-paying job at GPO, she will not be able to find a high-paying job in the future. Perhaps she will not. Perhaps private printers systemically pay less for the work she was training to do. However, the district court cannot make this determination solely on the basis of appellee's one month of experience at a private employer that may, or may not, be representative of the private sector, doing work that may, or may not, be comparable to the work of a journeyman proofreader at GPO. The record does not support such a speculative conclusion. Accordingly, we vacate the district court's award of $377,615.72 in future lost earnings, and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.