Court Opinion

ID: 9473561
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:32:55.044204+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:35.955351
License: Public Domain

BARRETT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting in part:
I agree with the dissent filed by Chief Judge Seth in Blim v. Western Elect. Co., Inc., 731 F.2d 1473 (10th Cir.1984) that front pay is not a remedy contemplated by the ADEA. See also, Kolb v. Goldring, 694 F.2d 869 (1st Cir.1982).
Chief Judge Seth carefully reviewed the legislative history of ADEA and he concluded that “allowing front pay runs against the intent of Congress in limiting legal remedies to ‘unpaid wages and unpaid overtime compensation.’ The court should not use its equitable powers to frustrate the intent of the statute.” 731 F.2d at 1481. Judge Seth set forth salutary reasons for the disallowance of front pay, after recognizing that liquidated damages may be recovered for willful violations:
The front pay damages are too uncertain to be considered “lost wages” or “lost earned benefits.” The possibilities of promotions, legitimate demotions, terminations, or death inject too many unknowns. In these circumstances the award of front pay is too speculative to be considered pecuniary damages under the statute. The enforcement section of the ADEA was specifically constructed to limit the type of available damages. As mentioned, although the statute grants broad equitable powers those powers cannot be used to expand the legal remedies specifically detailed in the statute. Id. at 1481.
In Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 242, 102 S.Ct. 2382, 2408, 72 L.Ed.2d 786 (1982) the Supreme Court observed that “[T]he Constitution does not constitute us [the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States] as ‘Platonic Guardians’ nor does it vest in this Court the authority to strike down laws because they do not meet our standards of desirable social policy, ‘wisdom,’ or ‘common sense.’ ” In like manner the court should be ever cautious not to play the role of a superlegislature.