Title VII remedies include back pay, attorney fees, interest, and
equitable relief.
42 U.S.C. §2000e-5(g)(k). Where an employee shows intentional
discrimination (i.e., disparate treatment), the employee can recover compensatory and punitive
damages up to a specified, capped amount.
42 U.S.C. §1981a. Punitive
damages require “
malice” or “reckless indifference to the federally protected rights” of the employee.
Id. The Supreme Court has
held that such punitive
damages may only be
awarded where there is conscious wrongdoing.
Kolstad v. Am. Dental Ass’n, 527 U.S. 526, 537 (1999). Compensatory
damages include “future
pecuniary losses [i.e., front pay], emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and other
nonpecuniary losses.”
42 U.S.C. §1981a. The
damages cap on the sum of compensatory and punitive
damages ranges from $50,000 to $300,000 based on the size of the company.
Id.
American Bar Association // Section of Labor and Employment Law
Equal Employment Opportunity Committee // EEO Law Basics // Spring 2006
