## Facts

- Constance M. Anderson, a female employee of the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC), proved that MDOC engaged in sex discrimination against her in violation of Title VII.
- In 1982, the federal district court ruled for Anderson on liability and addressed discriminatory practices affecting her prison-employment opportunities.
- To remedy the effects of the discrimination, the district court entered a 1988 order awarding front pay and directing that Anderson be compensated and advanced as though she had followed the career track of a male MDOC employee, Gerald Hofbauer, “to the present time.”
- When issuing the 1988 order, the district court did not make findings that Hofbauer’s later job advancements reflected what an average worker with Anderson’s qualifications would have achieved; MDOC nonetheless did not appeal the 1988 order.
- After further proceedings to implement the 1988 remedy, a hearing was held in 1990 to determine the job classification Anderson would then hold absent discrimination.
- A special master recommended that Anderson be placed at the Deputy Prison Warden XII level, based on Hofbauer’s progression.
- In 1991, the district court adopted the special master’s recommendation and ordered Anderson advanced to Deputy Prison Warden XII, continuing to use Hofbauer’s career path as the benchmark.
- MDOC appealed the 1991 order, arguing that relief should not be calculated using Hofbauer’s post-1982 advancements beyond his first post-1982 move (to Administrative Manager VIII).

## Issues

1. Whether MDOC’s failure to appeal the district court’s 1988 front-pay order made that remedial framework the law of the case, barring MDOC from later challenging relief tied to Hofbauer’s career path.
2. Whether the district court erred in its 1991 implementation order by advancing Anderson to Deputy Prison Warden XII and awarding compensation based on Hofbauer’s subsequent career progression.

## Decision

- The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s 1991 order.
- The court held that the unappealed 1988 order was the law of the case as to the remedy’s basic structure: Anderson’s compensation and rank were to track Hofbauer’s career path “to the present time.”
- At a minimum, the court stated Anderson was entitled to be compensated and advanced consistent with the 1988 order up to Deputy Prison Warden IX (the level Hofbauer held at the end of the proceedings leading to the 1988 order).
- The court further concluded the special master and district court did not commit reversible error in determining Anderson’s final classification and level of relief, and it upheld the 1991 order advancing her to Deputy Prison Warden XII.

## Legal Principles

- An unappealed remedial ruling in the same case generally becomes law of the case, limiting later attempts to relitigate the remedy’s framework on appeal from a subsequent implementation order.
- Title VII remedies aim to place the victim in the position she would have occupied absent unlawful discrimination; courts may award front pay and related rank/compensation adjustments when necessary to achieve that result.
- In implementing make-whole relief, a court may use a similarly situated comparator’s actual career path as a proxy for estimating the plaintiff’s likely pay and rank absent discrimination, especially where the employer’s prior conduct and the record support that approach.
- Appellate review of the district court’s implementation of equitable Title VII relief is deferential; absent legal error or a clear abuse of discretion in the classification determination, the remedial order will be upheld.

## Conclusion

In *Griffin v. Michigan Department of Corrections*, the Sixth Circuit affirmed a 1991 district-court order implementing an earlier Title VII remedy for Constance Anderson by tying her front pay and job level to a male comparator’s career track. Because MDOC did not appeal the 1988 order that set this remedial method, that order governed later proceedings as law of the case, and the court found no reversible error in the district court’s decision to place Anderson at Deputy Prison Warden XII based on Hofbauer’s progression.


Griffin v. Michigan Department of Corrections, 5 F.3d 186 (1993)