Bill would bar courts from accounting for wage gaps in damage awards

What it does

This bill prohibits federal courts from using race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or related characteristics when calculating damages for lost future earnings in civil lawsuits. It directs the Department of Labor and Attorney General to develop guidance for forensic economists and states on creating 'bias-free' earnings tables, and requires the Judicial Conference to study how damages are currently awarded and report back to Congress.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a prohibition on using protected-class characteristics in future-earnings damage calculations, paired with a directive to develop alternative methodologies. It is fundamentally a restriction on judicial discretion in tort damages, not a substantive rights expansion.

What the text implies

• The prohibition may prevent courts from awarding full compensatory damages to plaintiffs who suffered documented wage discrimination, since accounting for the actual earnings gap they experienced could be read as 'taking into account' their protected status.
• The 'rule of construction' carve-out (Section 3) states the bill does not deny damages 'for the purposes of Federal civil rights laws,' but this language is ambiguous—it is unclear whether a Title VII or Equal Pay Act plaintiff can still recover lost wages reflecting the actual gender/race pay gap they faced.

The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.

Who stands to gain

defendants in personal injury and employment discrimination cases; liability insurers (reduced exposure to large damage awards); forensic economics consulting firms (new market for 'bias-free' earnings table development)