A common remedy for victims of unlawful employment discrimination or wage violations. Back pay serves the dual purpose of making victims whole for the injuries suffered because of unlawful employment practices and deterring future wrongdoing.

Many federal statutes expressly authorize back pay as an available remedy, including:

Under the federal anti-discrimination statutes, back pay is an amount equal to the wages and other fringe benefits the employee would have earned from the time of the unlawful employment action until the date of reinstatement or judgment. Under the FLSA, back pay, also known as back wages, is the difference between what the employee was paid and the amount the employee should have been paid.

The time period for calculating back pay varies by statute and may be increased for willful violations. Back pay also may be subject to various reductions or limitations, such as for interim earnings under Title VII and other statutes that require plaintiffs to mitigate their damages.

For more information on back pay, see Practice Note, Remedies: Back Pay in Employment Discrimination Cases.

For more information on remedies generally, see Remedies Under Major Federal Employment Anti-Discrimination Laws Chart and Employment Litigation Remedies Toolkit.