Workplace discrimination lawsuits — based on race, sex, age, disability, religion, or national origin — don't settle like an injury claim. There's no pain-and-suffering multiplier; instead, the law splits your recovery into an uncapped bucket (back pay, front pay) and, depending on which law applies to your claim, a capped bucket (compensatory and punitive damages). This calculator walks through both, using the same statutory structure as our more detailed EEOC settlement calculator — use this version for a quick estimate by claim type, or the EEOC calculator if you already know which federal or state law applies.
This tool splits your estimate into two buckets: an uncapped bucket (back pay and front pay, never subject to any statutory cap) and a capped bucket (compensatory + punitive damages, which the law limits depending on which statute applies and, for Title VII/ADA claims, employer size). The two buckets are calculated separately and added together — the cap never applies to the total.
| Employees | Title VII / ADA cap (compensatory + punitive combined) |
|---|---|
| 15–100 | $50,000 |
| 101–200 | $100,000 |
| 201–500 | $200,000 |
| 501–+ | $300,000 |
Caps fixed by the Civil Rights Act of 1991 — never indexed for inflation. Source: 42 U.S.C. § 1981a.
It depends entirely on which law applies. Back pay and front pay are never capped and depend on your actual lost earnings. Compensatory and punitive damages are capped by employer size under federal law (Title VII, ADA) at $50,000–$300,000 combined, uncapped under California's FEHA, and unavailable at all under the ADEA (age discrimination), which instead allows liquidated damages that can double your back pay if the violation was willful.
Yes — the applicable law changes the math. Race, sex, religion, and national origin claims fall under Title VII; disability claims under the ADA (same damages caps as Title VII); age claims under the ADEA (no compensatory/punitive damages, but liquidated damages for willful violations); and in California, FEHA covers all of the above with no damages cap at all.
There's no single average — documented cases with clear lost wages and moderate emotional distress often settle in the tens of thousands to low hundreds of thousands; egregious, well-documented cases with strong evidence and no damages cap (e.g., under California FEHA) can exceed $1 million. The employer's size and which law applies drive most of the variation.
For federal claims (Title VII, ADA, ADEA), yes — you generally must file a charge with the EEOC (or a state fair employment agency) and receive a 'right to sue' letter before filing in court. California FEHA claims go through the state's Civil Rights Department instead.