Cite as: 515 U. S. 323 (1995)
O'Connor, J., dissenting
tled to a trial by jury of any issue of fact in any . . . action for recovery of amounts owing as a result of a violation of this chapter," 29 U. S. C. § 626(c)(2) (emphasis added). More important, the ADEA does not limit relief to back wages, but instead authorizes courts to grant the panoply of "such legal or equitable relief as will effectuate the purposes" of the Act, 29 U. S. C. § 626(c)(1) (emphasis added), and it expressly provides for liquidated damages in addition to back wages, 29 U. S. C. § 626(b). The Court emphasizes that liquidated damages under the ADEA are punitive in nature, ante, at 331-332, but it is an emphasis without relevance. Punitive damages are traditionally available only in tort. See 3 D. Dobbs, Law of Remedies 118 (2d ed. 1993) ("The rule against punitive damages prevails even if the breach [of contract] is wilful or malicious, as long as the breach does not amount to an independent tort"). Thus, whether the liquidated damages available under the ADEA are characterized as compensatory, or as a form of punitive damages, it is clear that the remedies available under the ADEA go beyond Title VII's limited focus on " 'legal injuries of an economic character,' " Burke, supra, at 239 (quoting Albemarle Paper Co v. Moody, 422 U. S. 405, 418 (1975)). Plaintiffs claiming age discrimination, then, are not limited to the "circumscribed remedies available under Title VII," Burke, 504 U. S., at 240, but instead may sue under the ADEA, which appears to be one of the "other federal antidiscrimination statutes offering . . . broad remedies" distinguished by Burke, see id., at 241.
These distinctions qualify an ADEA suit as a "tort type" action under Burke, and should entitle a prevailing plaintiff to exclude damages recovered therefrom from taxable income under § 104(a)(2) and the applicable IRS regulation, 26 CFR § 1.104-1(c) (1994). The Court seeks to avoid this conclusion by asserting that our decision in Burke and the IRS regulation that it interpreted do not conclusively determine the scope of § 104(a)(2). Both, according to the Court, ante, at 336, impose a necessary condition that the suit be tort
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