Joining the 3rd, 7th & 10th Circuits and rejecting contrary DC Circuit precedent, this decision holds that in awarding back pay for an employee terminated in violation of Title VII, a court may, in its discretion, gross-up the amount of the back pay award to account for the fact that receiving back pay in a lump sum in a single tax year will result in a higher income tax liability for the wronged employee than if he had earned the back pay income incrementally as he would have absent the wrongful termination.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal (Owen, J.); November 3, 2017; 2017 WL 5013661.