Presuming Damages for Unemployment Distress

When someone becomes involuntarily unemployed, they typically lose not only income and wealth but also psychological well-being as a result of the experience of being unemployed. This paper proposes that when a plaintiff proves that a defendant's illegal action caused the plaintiff to be unemployed, courts can and should rebuttably presume a damages award amount for “unemployment distress.” That presumed amount would be the product of the total time the plaintiff spent unemployed and the average unit cost of unemployment distress in the population of prevailing plaintiffs. The paper shows how this unemployment distress presumption operates and identifies its relative advantages: simplicity, anchoring, and a better fit with constitutional law as compared to other laws that constrain jury discretion to award noneconomic damages