Panel Rejects Comparable Worth Move

The Civil Rights Commission recommended today that federal agencies, Congress and the nation’s courts reject comparable worth--the concept that there should be equal pay for jobs of similar value.

The commission’s 5-2 vote came after 2 1/2 hours of heated discussion. Commissioner Francis Guess abstained.

The vote means the commission will publish a report recommending that federal civil rights enforcement agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, reject the comparable worth concept and that the Justice Department oppose it when it comes up in court.

Wage Involvement Opposed

In addition, the report recommends that Congress not pass measures that would establish comparable worth doctrine in setting public or private wages.

Commissioner Mary Frances Berry, who with Commissioner Blandina C. Ramirez voted against adopting the report, charged that it was written without benefit of hearings, interviews or any type of field investigation to find out how comparable worth is working in places where it has been adopted.

“People who seem to oppose the concept are always unwilling to agree that further inquiries are needed,” she said.

Equal Pay Act

The commission report recommends that the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 be used to remedy pay discrimination. However, its report says the wage gap between men and women results largely from factors that have nothing to do with discrimination by employers--among them women’s roles in child-bearing and child-rearing.

One commissioner, Robert Destro, said he thought sex-based pay discrimination should be remedied through collective bargaining with employers.