Federal Bill Bans Race and Gender from Future Earnings Calculations in Civil Lawsuits

If you’ve ever been in a serious accident or had a wrongful termination case, you know that calculating 'future lost earnings' is a massive, often complex part of the lawsuit. It’s how the court tries to figure out how much money you would have earned for the rest of your working life had the injury or incident not happened. The Fair Calculations in Civil Damages Act of 2025 is here to make sure those calculations are fair across the board by striking out demographic bias.

The Problem with the Old Math

This bill targets a long-standing, ugly truth in civil law: when calculating future earnings, experts often rely on statistical tables that factor in a person’s race, ethnicity, or sex. Since women and minorities historically earn less on average, using these tables can result in lower damage awards for plaintiffs who are members of these groups, even if they had the same education and potential as a white male plaintiff. Essentially, the system was baking in historical pay gaps right into the compensation for victims.

What the Bill Changes: Bias is Out

Section 3 of the Act lays down the law: Federal courts cannot use a plaintiff’s actual or perceived race, ethnicity, or sex when calculating future lost earnings. This is a huge deal for fairness, ensuring that your potential future income is judged on your merits and situation, not on outdated, discriminatory statistics. It clarifies that this doesn't stop a court from awarding damages for discrimination itself—you can still sue for being discriminated against as a member of a protected class—but the financial projection of your future earning potential must be neutral.

New Rules for the Experts

To make sure this ban is enforceable, the bill mandates a total overhaul of the data used by forensic economists. The Secretary of Labor has 180 days to create new guidelines for these experts on how to build “future earnings tables” that completely ignore race, ethnicity, gender, and even perceived sexual orientation (Sec. 4). This means the experts who testify in court will have to rely on data that strips out these protected characteristics, forcing a shift to truly neutral projections. Think of it as upgrading the software used by the courts to project your career trajectory—it’s getting a major bug fix for systemic bias.

What This Means for Your Payout

If you are a plaintiff in a civil suit, especially one where you are seeking significant damages for lost income, this bill could substantially change the outcome. For example, a young woman injured in an accident might have previously had her future earnings discounted based on the statistical reality that women generally earn less than men. Under this new rule, the court must base her projection on gender-neutral data, potentially resulting in a higher, fairer award that reflects her actual potential. Conversely, this shift could mean higher payouts overall in liability cases, which is something defendants and insurance companies will certainly be watching.

Judicial Homework and Training

This isn't just a rule change; it's a procedural commitment. The Act requires the Judicial Conference of the United States to conduct a study on current damage awards in federal personal injury cases, breaking the data down by protected class (Sec. 5). The goal is to see exactly how bias has been playing out. Separately, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts must study the best ways to calculate future earning potential while complying with federal equal protection laws. Finally, the Federal Judicial Center is tasked with creating mandatory training for federal judges on how to implement this new, bias-free standard in their courtrooms (Sec. 6). This means the people making the final decisions will be explicitly trained on how to use the new, neutral earnings evidence.