08/14/2024
⚖️Wrongful Termination, Comparable Employment, and Mitigation⚖️ In wrongful termination cases, loss of earnings and benefits are calculated in a similar manner as they would be in personal injury cases. That is, the forensic economist will look at the income and benefits an employee received from their employer and calculate those losses for a specific period of time. In employment cases, the Plaintiff has the duty to try to mitigate their losses by finding comparable employment. It is the responsibility of the Defendant to prove whether or not the Plaintiff failed to mitigate damages. It is also important to focus on the idea of comparable employment. Unlike PI cases, Plaintiff’s that are suing for wrongful termination are not obliged to take on any job available as part of their mitigation efforts. A doctor earning $400,000 a year is not obligated to work a minimum wage job as part of his mitigation efforts just because there is a job available. In order for a job to be considered comparable, the position, location, pay, benefits, hours should all be similar to the job they had before the subject termination. If a post-termination job is not comparable, it may not be considered an offset and deducted from the Plaintiff’s loss of earnings/benefits. For any inquiries regarding a wrongful termination case, please call our office for a free consultation today! economist
