Your Duty to Mitigate Back Pay Awards If you are awarded back pay, you must provide information about your efforts to secure other employment during the entire back pay period. If you prevail in an EEO complaint involving separation or indefinite suspension, and you return to work for the Postal Service, you are not required to provide any information about your inability to secure other employment during the first 45 calendar days of your separation or suspension. After that time period, your back pay will be reduced to reflect: Salary you earned or could have earned through reasonable diligence during the period of separation or indefinite suspension. Salary you could not have earned during any period in which you were not ready, willing, and able to return to duty because you were ill or injured. Salary for any period during which you were unavailable to return to duty for reasons that are not related to unlawful discrimination. Publication 133 PSN November 2018Publication 133