If you believe your employer discriminated against you, it is natural to wonder what your workplace discrimination claim might be worth. Losing a job, promotion, wages, or other opportunities because of discrimination can have significant financial consequences, particularly for an established worker who has spent years building a career.
There is no formula that assigns a standard dollar amount to workplace discrimination. Two employees who experienced similar conduct can have claims with substantially different potential values because their financial losses, available legal claims, evidence, and remedies differ.
The employment attorneys at Hawks Quindel, S.C. represent Wisconsin workers in discrimination matters. Evaluating a claim requires looking beyond what happened at work to determine what losses resulted and which remedies state or federal law makes available.
Key Takeaways
- Lost wages and benefits can be significant components of a discrimination claim.
- Wisconsin and federal discrimination laws do not provide identical remedies.
- Federal law can permit emotional distress and punitive damages in qualifying cases, subject to statutory limitations.
- The employee's earnings history, length of unemployment, mitigation efforts, evidence, and applicable law can all affect potential recovery.
- A high settlement reported in another discrimination case does not establish what your individual claim is worth.
What Determines How Much a Workplace Discrimination Claim Is Worth?
There is no reliable average value for a workplace discrimination claim. Potential recovery depends on factors such as lost wages and benefits, future earnings losses, applicable laws, available remedies, the strength of the evidence, and whether the employee has taken reasonable steps to reduce financial losses.
Is There an Average Settlement for Workplace Discrimination?
Published averages and headline-making settlements are not reliable measures for valuing an individual employment discrimination claim.
The underlying circumstances vary too much. One worker may have been denied a promotion but remained employed at the same salary. Another may have been terminated and unable to find comparable work for a year. A third may have viable claims under both Wisconsin and federal law, each providing different remedies.
The strength of the evidence also matters. Documents, emails, performance records, witness testimony, the timing of employment decisions, inconsistent explanations from the employer, and evidence about how similarly situated employees were treated can affect the strength of a claim and settlement negotiations.
Instead of starting with an average settlement figure, our attorneys examine the documented losses and the remedies available under applicable law.
How Does Back Pay Affect What a Discrimination Claim Is Worth?
Back pay is compensation for lost earnings and certain benefits an employee lost due to unlawful discrimination. For example, if discrimination resulted in termination, back pay can include wages the worker would have earned between the termination and the resolution of the claim, reduced by replacement earnings where applicable. Lost employment benefits may also factor into the calculation.
Wisconsin's Fair Employment Act (WFEA) permits make-whole remedies that can include back pay, reinstatement, lost benefits, interest, and attorney fees and costs. The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development explains that remedies are intended to place a successful complainant as nearly as possible in the position the person would have occupied without the discrimination.
The amount of back pay can therefore depend heavily on the worker's compensation before the discriminatory action and what happened afterward.
Can Front Pay or Reinstatement Be Part of the Remedy?
Sometimes the appropriate remedy involves returning an employee to the position lost because of discrimination. This is called reinstatement.
In other circumstances, returning to the workplace may not be a practical remedy. Federal discrimination law can allow front pay in appropriate cases as an alternative to reinstatement. Front pay compensates an employee for future earnings they are expected to lose due to the unlawful employment action.
State law requires more careful analysis. DWD explains that front pay is expressly available instead of reinstatement under a particular WFEA retaliation provision, while case law has raised questions about its availability under other WFEA provisions.
An attorney evaluating potential recovery needs to identify the specific legal claim rather than assuming that every form of damages is available in every discrimination case.
Can You Recover Compensation for Emotional Distress?
This is one area where the distinction between state and federal law becomes particularly important.
The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act itself does not generally authorize compensation for emotional distress in the administrative process. Its remedies focus primarily on making the employee whole through measures such as back pay, reinstatement, lost benefits, interest, and attorney fees and costs.
Federal law can be different. In qualifying intentional discrimination cases under federal laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, compensatory damages can include compensation for emotional harm, including emotional distress, inconvenience, and loss of enjoyment of life.
That difference is one reason a workplace discrimination claim should not be valued solely by calculating lost wages.
Are Punitive Damages Available in Workplace Discrimination Cases?
Punitive damages are intended to punish particularly serious unlawful conduct rather than compensate an employee for a specific financial loss.
They are not generally available under the Fair Employment Act. Under federal law, however, punitive damages can be available in qualifying intentional discrimination cases when the legal requirements are satisfied. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) explains that punitive damages may be awarded when an employer acted with malice or reckless indifference to an individual's federally protected rights.
Punitive damages are not automatic simply because discrimination occurred. Whether they are legally available depends on the governing law and evidence.
Are There Caps on Damages in Federal Discrimination Cases?
Federal law limits the combined amount of compensatory and punitive damages available under Title VII and certain other federal discrimination laws. According to the EEOC, the caps depend on the employer's number of employees:
- 15–100 employees: $50,000
- 101–200 employees: $100,000
- 201–500 employees: $200,000
- More than 500 employees: $300,000
These caps apply to the combined compensatory and punitive damages covered by the statute. They do not include back pay or front pay. That distinction matters. The $300,000 figure sometimes associated with federal discrimination cases is not necessarily a ceiling on the total relief available in a case.
Different employment statutes may have distinct remedial schemes, making it important to determine which law governs the employee's claim.
Why Can State and Federal Discrimination Claims Have Different Values?
Wisconsin employees can potentially have rights under the Fair Employment Act, federal employment discrimination statutes, or both. The WFEA prohibits discrimination based on numerous protected characteristics and provides an administrative process through Wisconsin's Equal Rights Division.
Federal laws enforced by the EEOC protect workers from discrimination based on characteristics covered by those statutes. The remedies available under those systems differ.
A Wisconsin claim may provide important make-whole relief, including back pay and reinstatement, while a qualifying federal claim can provide additional forms of compensation. Filing requirements, deadlines, covered employers, and legal standards can also differ. For that reason, the forum in which a claim proceeds, and the laws under which it is brought, can materially affect the potential remedies.
What Else Can Increase or Decrease the Potential Value of a Claim?
Available categories of damages are only part of the analysis. The facts determine what losses can actually be established.
One important consideration is mitigation. An employee who loses a job generally has a duty to make reasonable efforts to reduce lost earnings, such as by seeking appropriate replacement employment. Earnings from a new position can reduce the amount of back pay claimed.
Other important considerations include the employee's salary and benefits before the discriminatory action, the length of unemployment, the difference between former and replacement earnings, the ability to obtain comparable work, and the strength of the evidence connecting the adverse action to unlawful discrimination.
Retaliation can also become relevant. If an employee reports discrimination and subsequently experiences a materially adverse action because of that protected activity, a separate retaliation claim may arise under applicable law.
These factors illustrate why two claims involving the same type of discrimination can have very different potential outcomes.
Do Attorney Fees Affect a Workplace Discrimination Claim?
They can. Fee-shifting provisions allow attorney fees and costs to be awarded to successful employees under certain employment discrimination laws.
Wisconsin's DWD identifies reasonable attorney fees and costs among the remedies available to a successful complainant under the WFEA. Federal discrimination statutes can also permit recovery of attorney fees in appropriate cases.
Frequently Asked Questions About Workplace Discrimination Claim Value
How much can I sue my employer for discrimination?
There is no standard amount. Potential recovery depends on your financial losses, applicable state and federal laws, available remedies, the strength of the evidence, mitigation efforts, and other circumstances. Federal compensatory and punitive damages can also be subject to statutory caps.
Can I recover lost wages after being fired because of discrimination?
Back pay may be available when unlawful discrimination results in lost earnings. The calculation can include wages and certain employment benefits the worker would have received, subject to factors such as replacement earnings and the duty to mitigate losses.
Can I recover emotional-distress damages for workplace discrimination in Wisconsin?
The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act does not generally provide emotional-distress damages through its administrative remedy. Claims qualifying under federal discrimination law may permit compensatory damages for emotional harm. Determining which laws apply is therefore important when evaluating potential recovery.
Does my salary affect how much my discrimination claim is worth?
It can. Salary, bonuses, benefits, length of unemployment, replacement earnings, and potential future wage losses can affect economic damages. However, earnings are only part of the analysis, as other remedies may also be available depending on the law and the facts.
Does every workplace discrimination case settle?
No. Some matters are resolved through negotiated settlements, while others proceed through an administrative or court process. Wisconsin's Equal Rights Division also provides opportunities for voluntary settlement. The appropriate approach depends on the evidence, legal claims, available remedies, and the parties' positions.
Talk to an Employment Discrimination Attorney at Hawks Quindel, S.C. to Learn More
If discrimination has cost you a job, income, benefits, advancement opportunities, or other employment rights, determining what your claim may be worth requires more than comparing your situation with someone else's settlement.
The employment attorneys at Hawks Quindel, S.C. can evaluate the state and federal laws that may apply, your economic losses, available remedies, and the evidence supporting your claim. Our attorneys represent workers, not employers, in employment disputes and can explain the legal options available based on your circumstances.
Contact Hawks Quindel, S.C. to begin the intake process and learn whether your matter qualifies for a free case screening. Call our Madison office at 608-257-0040 or our Milwaukee office at 414-271-8650, or fill out our confidential contact form.