REMEDIES FOR UNFAIR PRACTICES; REINSTATEMENT; BACKPAY BENEFITS – Back Pay; Interest

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The duty to mitigate damages is not a difficult hurdle. (Bellflower Unified School District (2019) PERB Order No. Ad-475, p. 10.) Efforts to mitigate damages need not be successful; employees must only undertake them in good faith. (County of Lassen (2018) PERB Decision No. 2612-M, p. 9.) Employees must show an inclination to be self-supporting, but need not seek work that is more onerous than their prior employment, need not confine themselves to looking for jobs earning the same level of compensation as they had previously earned, and need not remain in the same industry. (Ibid.) Moreover, an employee who pursues an educational opportunity satisfies the duty to mitigate by combining school with job hunting or by reasonably deciding that additional education is the best path toward gainful employment. (Id. at p. 10.) Self-employment also satisfies the duty to mitigate. (County of Riverside (2013) PERB Decision No. 2336-M, adopting proposed decision at p. 19)