Sometimes. If you lost your job because of sexual harassment or because you complained about it, a court can order your employer to take you back. This is called reinstatement. It is not automatic, and courts weigh whether going back is realistic. When it is not, a court can award front pay instead – money for the future earnings you lose – along with back pay and damages for emotional distress.
After months of harassment or retaliation, you may have no wish to go back. You may already have a new job, or you may feel the relationship cannot be repaired. That is understandable, and it is not a failure on your part.
So while reinstatement is an important remedy, many cases end with compensation and other terms rather than a return to work.
What Does It Mean to Be Made Whole?
Being made whole means being put back, as nearly as possible, where you would be if the harassment or retaliation had never happened.
That is a central goal of New York and federal employment discrimination law.
Sometimes that means reinstatement, because you wanted to keep working and lost the job only because of unlawful conduct.
Other times, going back would repair nothing. Then money or other terms do the job better.
What Is Reinstatement?
Reinstatement means that the employer is ordered to restore the employee to employment.
It can mean your old job, or an equivalent one with similar duties, pay, seniority, benefits and chances for promotion.
Reinstatement is intended to restore the employee’s career, not merely provide a job title.
In federal court, reinstatement is an equitable remedy, which means the judge decides it, not the jury.
When Does Reinstatement Come Up?
Reinstatement usually comes up when you were fired, forced to resign or otherwise lost your job because of discrimination or retaliation.
If you were fired after reporting sexual harassment, for example, you can ask for reinstatement as part of your case.
The same is true if your employer forced you out through harassment or retaliation.
Whether reinstatement is appropriate depends not only on the legal claims asserted but also on whether returning to work remains a practical and equitable solution.
Will a Court Make Me Go Back to the Same Workplace?
No. Courts know that going back is not always realistic. On paper, reinstatement looks simple.
From a human standpoint, it is often much more complicated.
Sexual harassment cases frequently involve profound breaches of trust. Employees may have been harassed by supervisors, ignored by Human Resources, retaliated against after reporting misconduct, or shut out by co-workers who sided with management.
Even if the employee prevails in court, returning to that environment may not be emotionally healthy or professionally productive.
When the employment relationship has been irreparably damaged, reinstatement may not be practical even if the employee proves that the employer violated the law.
That is why we talk with you about remedies early, instead of assuming you want your job back.
What If I Do Not Want My Job Back?
Then you can seek compensation and other relief instead.
Some people have already found new work. Others have changed careers, moved, started businesses, gone back to school, or simply want to put the experience behind them.
You may seek compensation for:
- lost wages and benefits
- lost future earnings, where the law allows
- emotional distress
- attorney’s fees
- punitive damages, where the law allows
The law recognizes that justice does not always require forcing an employee to return to an employer with whom the employment relationship has fundamentally broken down.
What Is Front Pay?
Front pay is money for the future earnings you lose when going back to your old job is not possible.
It does not put you back on the payroll. It bridges the gap while you build a comparable career elsewhere.
Whether front pay is available depends on the law and the facts. Courts look at your career prospects, your efforts to find new work, your expected future earnings and whether reinstatement would work. Under federal law, front pay is not limited by the caps that apply to some other damages.
Because front pay can involve significant legal and economic analysis, it is often one of the more heavily contested issues in employment litigation.
Does the Employer Have to Welcome Me Back?
Not necessarily.
Even if reinstatement is legally available, courts recognize that successful employment relationships require more than a court order.
If the litigation has created extraordinary hostility, destroyed trust between the parties, or made effective supervision impossible, reinstatement may not serve either the employee or the employer.
Can I Ask for Reinstatement and Still Negotiate a Settlement?
Yes. Requesting reinstatement as a potential remedy does not prevent settlement discussions.
In fact, the remedies requested in a lawsuit often become important components of settlement negotiations.
An employee may initially seek reinstatement but later determine that financial compensation better serves long-term career goals. Conversely, an employer may prefer a financial settlement rather than reinstating an employee after prolonged litigation.
That flexibility matters. A settlement can include terms a court might never order, such as a transfer, a new reporting line, a neutral reference or confidentiality. And whether to accept any offer is your decision alone.
What If I Quit Instead of Being Fired?
Quitting does not always rule out reinstatement.
If your employer deliberately made your working conditions so intolerable that a reasonable person would have felt forced to resign, the law can treat your resignation as a firing. This is called a “constructive discharge.”
Whether reinstatement or other remedies are available after a constructive discharge depends on the applicable legal claims and the particular facts of the case.
The focus is less on the fact that you resigned than on why you left and what your employer did before you did.
Should I Want My Job Back?
Only you can answer that. Early on, we ask you two questions: What do you want? What do you need?
Some employees genuinely want to return to the careers they enjoyed before the harassment occurred. Others cannot imagine working for the employer again.
Neither response is inherently right or wrong.
We help you weigh the practical side as well as the legal one. That includes the workplace culture, your chances of advancement, your emotional well-being, your finances, the jobs available to you and whether the relationship can really be repaired.
The right remedy is not the one that sounds most dramatic. It is the one that helps you move forward.
Talk to Us About What Comes Next
If you lost your job because of sexual harassment or retaliation, you may have several remedies under federal, New York State and New York City law. Reinstatement, front pay, back pay and damages for emotional distress are among them.
We represent employees across New York in sexual harassment and retaliation cases. We look at what the law allows and at what you want for your life and career. Then we build the case around that, whether it means pursuing reinstatement, negotiating a settlement or preparing for trial.
John Howley has been admitted in New York since 1990 and belongs to the bar of all four federal district courts in the state. Wherever your case belongs, we can take it there.
Call us at (212) 601-2728 and tell us what happened. A lawyer at the firm will listen and explain your options, and the conversation is free and confidential. In most of our cases you pay nothing up front, and our fee comes only from a recovery.
