Enter to open, tab to navigate, enter to select
Front Pay
Practical Law Glossary Item w-001-6459 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Front Pay
An equitable remedy designed to "make whole" victims of employment discrimination. Front pay compensates employees for lost earnings, including wages and other benefits, between the date of judgment and reinstatement or, when reinstatement is unavailable or not feasible, in lieu of reinstatement.
Front pay is an available remedy under many employment discrimination statutes, including:
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).
- The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
- The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
- The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).
- The Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) (where reinstatement is not a viable option).
Front pay is awarded within the court's discretion. When calculating a plaintiff's expected future losses, a court may consider factors, such as:
- The plaintiff's age.
- The plaintiff's life expectancy.
- The amount of time the plaintiff worked for the employer.
- How long the plaintiff worked for previous employers.
- The plaintiff's efforts to find other employment.
- The availability of comparable positions in the marketplace.
For more information on front pay, see Practice Note, Remedies: Front 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.