29 U.S.C. § 260
Section 260 · Liquidated damages
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 696 court decisions — leading case Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston (1985)
Most recently applied in Secretary United States Department of Labor v. Nursing Home Care Management Inc. (January 2025)
Applied most in the District Circuit Circuit (31 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 29 U.S.C. § 216 · 29 U.S.C. § 207 · 29 U.S.C. § 255
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
In any action commenced prior to or on or after May 14, 1947 to recover unpaid minimum wages, unpaid overtime compensation, or liquidated damages, under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended [29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.], if the employer shows to the satisfaction of the court that the act or omission giving rise to such action was in good faith and that he had reasonable grounds for believing that his act or omission was not a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, the court may, in its sound discretion, award no liquidated damages or award any amount thereof not to exceed the amount specified in section 216 of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, referred to in text, is act June 25, 1938, ch. 676, 52 Stat. 1060, as amended, which is classified generally to chapter 8 (§201 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 201 of this title and Tables.
Amendments
1974—Pub. L. 93–259 substituted “section 216 of this title” for “section 216(b) of this title”.
Effective Date of 1974 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 93–259 effective May 1, 1974, see section 29(a) of Pub. L. 93–259, set out as a note under section 202 of this title.