The court ruled in favor of Benjamin's claim of wrongful discharge due to age discrimination in his lawsuit against his employer. The employer had consistently engaged in the practice of discharging older employees by using various pretenses other than age. To punish the employer and to deter the employer from engaging in future, the court required the employer to pay _________ damages in the amount of two million dollars.

A) distributive
B) compensatory
C) financial
D) professional
E) punitive