{"id":33839,"date":"2018-04-03T15:04:37","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T15:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/?p=33839"},"modified":"2019-04-17T17:13:58","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T17:13:58","slug":"civil-litigation-in-employment-so-whats-it-going-to-cost-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/civil-litigation-in-employment-so-whats-it-going-to-cost-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil Litigation in Employment: So What\u2019s it Going to Cost Me?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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When faced with an employment discrimination, harassment or retaliation claim, often the immediate response is, \u201cWe are going to defend ourselves and prove we are right,\u201d followed by, \u201cSo what will it cost us if we lose?\u201d This article describes the damages available to a prevailing party under the primary federal employment statutes.<\/p>\n

To begin, the common denominator is attorney\u2019s fees.\u00a0 In civil litigation, the norm is that each litigant pays for its own attorney\u2019s fees.\u00a0 Under all federal anti-discrimination, anti-harassment and anti-retaliation laws, prevailing employees are entitled to their attorney\u2019s fees. This is known as a fee-shifting law \u2013 the fees are shifted to the losing employer.\u00a0 In addition, the employer must pay its own attorney\u2019s \u00a0fees.\u00a0 Shifting attorney\u2019s fees to the employer raises the stakes since it is not unusual in single plaintiff litigation for attorney\u2019s fees to be more than any potential damages, particularly if you add the cost of defense with the plaintiff\u2019s attorney\u2019s fees.<\/p>\n

Another often heard statement from clients is, \u201cI assume if the company wins, we can make the employee pay our fees.\u201d\u00a0 This is correct only in very limited circumstances.\u00a0 The Civil Rights Act of 1964<\/a> and the Americans with Disabilities Act<\/a> (ADA) provide that a court may<\/em> award the \u201cprevailing party\u201d its attorney\u2019s fees, but courts generally limit recovery against an employee to claims shown to be frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless. This is a very high standard. In other words, employers should not count on the court compelling an employee to pay the employer\u2019s attorney\u2019s fees.<\/p>\n

Other damages available to a winning plaintiff who is terminated are:<\/p>\n