Both federal and state job discrimination laws generally offer a wide range of relief to remedy a violation. These include injunctive relief, monetary relief, attorney's fees and costs.
The remedy that would apply depends on the law that the employer violated. The types of monetary relief most often awarded by job discrimination laws are backpay, front pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages, liquidated damages, attorney's fees and the costs associated with litigation. Each violation of the law must be looked at to determine the monetary relief available. What may be available under one law may not be available under another.
Relief in discrimination cases is designed both to remedy the effects of past discrimination and to prevent similar discrimination in the future. The principles of recovery deal with what a victim is entitled to as a result of a violation. This is a separate issue from whether the employer is liable for a violation of a job discrimination law.
Backpay is the most common remedy available to compensate discrimination victims for a loss of income. Front pay is compensation for future economic losses stemming from present discrimination that cannot be remedied by re-hiring, promotion or reinstatement. Compensatory damages are "make whole" remedies. Compensatory damages include monetary relief for emotional distress, pain or suffering and damages resulting from the consequences of an unlawful act on the party of an employer. Punitive damages are monetary damages which are meant to punish the wrongdoers.
Calculating the amount of damages is a difficult process which is best accomplished with the aid of an attorney and possibly other experts in this field. It will be helpful to discuss these matters with an attorney.
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