San Francisco Employment Law Firm Blog
An employer who loses or is about to lose an employment or wrongful termination case will usually argue at trial/arbitration/mediation that the plaintiff employee failed to mitigate his damages. In other words, the employer will try to convince the decision makes that the plaintiff who has been unemployed or underemployed since being terminated, could have and should have found a job long time ago and could have minimized his losses by actually working during the time that he or she was unemployed.
It is therefore very important to know that in employment and wrongful termination cases in California, the burden is on the employer to show that comparable or substantially similar employment was available to the plaintiff employee who was unlawfully terminated and was unemployed for a period of time while his wrongful termination lawsuit was pending. Substantially equivalent employment affords virtually identical promotional opportunities, compensation, job responsibilities, working conditions and status as the position from which plaintiff has been terminated. Sellers v. Delgado College (1990)
This means that the unemployed or underemployment claimant need not go into another line of work, accept a demotion, or take a demeaning position. Ford Motor Co. v. EEOC (1982). Plaintiff may also properly refuse employment that is inconveniently located or unreasonably distant. Cunningham v. Retail Clerks Union (1983) Although, geographical considerations may be less of a factor for executives and professionals whose employer routinely relocate their top employees. In such cases, a wrongfully terminated employee’s failure to accept a job offer solely because it requires moving to a different location may be held to be a failure to mitigate damages. Hopkins v. Price Waterhouse (1990).
A discharged plaintiff is required to make a reasonable effort to find a job. However, wrongfully discharged workers are not held to the highest standard of diligence in their efforts to find a comparable employment. Reasonable diligence requires only an ongoing, good faith effort. Minshall v. McGraw Hill Broadcasting Co., Inc. (2003) Good faith effort usually means applying for jobs that the plaintiff actually is qualified to perform and doing more than just sending a few applications and resumes per month to perspective employers.