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119-hr-4161119th Congress

Fair Calculations in Civil Damages Act of 2025

Sponsored By: Representative Casten, Sean [D-IL-6]

Introduced

Summary

Bars use of race, ethnicity, or sex in projected future-earnings tables used to calculate civil damages. This bill would remove identity-based factors from economic projections and set deadlines for new guidance, studies, and judge training to replace biased inputs.

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  • Plaintiffs: Keeps the ability to recover damages under federal civil rights laws but stops courts from factoring race, ethnicity, or sex into future-earnings calculations used to set awards.
  • Forensic economists and expert witnesses: The Secretary of Labor must issue guidance within 180 days for creating inclusive future-earnings tables that do not rely on protected characteristics.
  • Federal judges and courts: The Federal Judicial Center must train judges on compliant evidence and the Judicial Conference must study damages and report to Congress within 18 months, while the Administrative Office studies age and disability issues within 1 year.
  • State courts and policymakers: The Secretary of Labor and the Attorney General must produce guidance for states to make tort-era earnings calculations free of bias.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.

No race-based earnings in court awards

If enacted, courts would be barred from using race, ethnicity, or sex to predict future earnings for damages. Sex would include gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and intersex traits. Awards could change because past methods sometimes used these factors. Courts could still award damages for protected-class harms under civil-rights laws, just not through biased earnings tables. This would take effect upon enactment.

Bias-free earnings guidance and judge training

If enacted, key terms for "future earnings table" and "protected class" would guide courts and experts. The Federal Judicial Center would train judges on compliant earnings tables starting at enactment. Within 180 days, the Labor Department would issue guidance to help economists build bias-free tables. The Labor Secretary and Attorney General would also give States guidance for state tort cases. These steps would shape how evidence is prepared and used, not the dollar amounts.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Casten, Sean [D-IL-6]

IL • D

Cosponsors

  • Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]

    DC • D

    Sponsored 6/26/2025

  • Rep. Carson, André [D-IN-7]

    IN • D

    Sponsored 6/30/2025

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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