Opinion ID: 686788
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Layoff Claim

Text: 16 The district court found that plaintiffs were discriminatorily laid off. However, the court limited the damages available to plaintiffs because it gave collateral estoppel effect to a state agency's decision that plaintiffs were justifiably discharged. R. 94 at 18. Plaintiffs contest the limitations placed on their damages. 6
17 When plaintiffs were discharged they each filed for unemployment benefits. Plaintiffs did not claim at the time, nor have they claimed at any time since, that the discharges were discriminatorily motivated. R. 94 at 11. Godfrey protested, contending that Harper, Webber, and Wright were all fired for good cause. The Unemployment Compensation Division (UCD) held hearings and determined that plaintiffs were all properly discharged and thus ineligible for benefits. Plaintiffs did not appeal the agency decision to state court. Id. at 11-12. The district court gave collateral estoppel effect to the UCD's determination that plaintiffs were all discharged for just cause. 18 Section 1738 mandates that federal courts give full faith and credit to state court decisions to the same degree that the decisions would have in the courts of that state. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1738. Title VII permits plaintiffs to pursue their claims in federal court de novo after they have pursued their claims in state proceedings. University of Tenn. v. Elliott, 478 U.S. 788, 795-96, 106 S.Ct. 3220, 3224-25, 92 L.Ed.2d 635 (1986). Reconciling these two principles, the Supreme Court has held that a state agency decision that has been reviewed by a state court will receive from a federal court the same collateral estoppel effect that the decision would receive in that state, Kremer v. Chemical Constr. Corp., 456 U.S. 461, 468-70, 102 S.Ct. 1883, 1890-92, 72 L.Ed.2d 262 (1982), while an unreviewed state agency decision will not receive collateral estoppel effect, Elliott, 478 U.S. at 796, 106 S.Ct. at 3225. 19 Elliott, however, does not apply to the present case. The agency decision here was made by an unemployment benefits agency, not an employment discrimination agency. The issue involved was the reason for plaintiffs' discharges, which were not alleged to have been discriminatory. Plaintiffs' justifiable discharges have only an indirect effect on the damages available in their Title VII claims; the decision does not directly affect their discrimination allegations. See also Gear v. Des Moines, 514 F.Supp. 1218 (S.D.Iowa 1981) (in a Sec. 1983 action, the court gave collateral estoppel effect to an unemployment agency's finding that the plaintiff had left her employer voluntarily without good cause). Therefore, the UCD decision regarding the reasons for plaintiffs' terminations must receive collateral estoppel effect in federal court.
20 One purpose of Title VII is to put a plaintiff in the same position he/she would have been in had the discrimination not occurred, not in a better position. Regardless of whether the discrimination had occurred plaintiffs would have been fired in early 1987 for their misconduct. Accordingly, the district court correctly restricted their awards of back pay to the time preceding termination and disallowed their reinstatements. See Bohen v. East Chicago, 622 F.Supp. 1234 (N.D.Ind.1985), aff'd in part, rev'd in part on other grounds, 799 F.2d 1180 (7th Cir.1986) (employee, discharged for cause, not entitled to back pay or reinstatement).