Assessing Economic Damages in Wrongful Termination Cases

This paper presents a method for measuring economic damages in wrongful termination cases. Such cases present the damages expert with a problem since the available studies of earnings recovery after a job loss are based on a limited time period after a job loss and many workers never catch-up to the previous earnings level. A two-step approach is offered. First, the expert uses appropriate available empirical evidence to develop a typical earnings catch-up period. Second, the expert gathers information about case factors affecting the duration of the period to earnings catch-up. Using these factors, the expert modifies the base time period to develop a reasonable range of years for earnings catch-up. The ultimate choice of lost earnings is left for the court to decide, given the range presented by the expert. Cases directly or indirectly supporting this method are presented.