Under Title VII, you can recover punitive damages if you’re employed in the private sector. First, you’re going to have to prove to the court that you suffered employment discrimination. In addition to that, to receive punitive damages, you next need to prove that you suffered a particularly egregious form of discrimination. That is, your employer acted with malice or reckless indifference in how they treated you. Because ultimately punitive damages are designed to punish the employer for particularly bad forms of discrimination.