‘Comparable Worth’ Case Settlement OKd : Union and Washington State Agree to Terms Distributing $482 Million to 34,000 Workers

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employes announced Tuesday that it has reached a settlement in its landmark pay equity case against the state of Washington that provides for distribution of about $482 million to 34,000 state employees.

At issue in the case was the highly controversial concept of “comparable worth,” a novel legal theory that goes a step beyond the principle of equal pay for equal work by seeking equal pay for women in jobs that are different from those dominated by men, but of comparable worth.

Court Ruling Intact

Opponents of comparable worth, including President Reagan and many business leaders, are expected to view the out-of-court settlement as a victory because it leaves standing an appeals court ruling of last September that rejected the concept. The settlement kills an appeal by the union to the Supreme Court.

The pact also does not provide for back pay, which had been estimated at nearly $1 billion.

The appeals court ruling still could affect a number of other comparable worth cases, including one brought by the Civil Service Employes Assn. against the state of California. More than 20 states, including California, have conducted pay equity studies.

But Diana Rock, AFSCME women’s rights director, said the Washington agreement stipulates that the union does not accept the appeals court ruling. She added that it is a clear victory for the affected state workers, some of whom will get pay increases of as much as 13%.

Under the agreement, men and women in the specified classifications will receive $46.5 million during the first 15 months and approximately $10 million compounded on July 1 every year thereafter through 1992 to correct gender-based inequities in the state’s wage scales. The employees will receive regular pay raises in addition to the money provided for this purpose.

The settlement still must be reviewed by the Washington state Legislature and U.S. District Judge Jack E. Tanner in Tacoma, who ruled in 1983 that the state had violated provisions of the federal Civil Rights Act that forbid job discrimination.

If the union had failed to reach agreement with state officials by midnight, a fund of nearly $42 million set aside by the state Legislature for the purpose of settling the case would have reverted to the state treasury.

Viewed as Lead Case

The Washington state case long has been viewed by unions and feminist groups as the lead case in their legal battle to establish the concept of comparable worth, which Reagan has condemned as “a cockamamie idea . . . that would destroy the basis of free enterprise.”

Various Administration agencies, including the Justice Department, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Civil Rights Commission have argued that the marketplace should determine the value of a job.

The case began in 1981 when a state-commissioned study found that state workers in male-dominated jobs were being paid 20% more than workers in female-dominated jobs. Among other things, the study recommended that laundry workers be paid as much as truck drivers and librarians twice as much as carpenters.

Wage Hike Ordered

In 1983, Judge Tanner ordered a salary increase and back pay for more than 15,000 Washington state workers in female-dominated jobs. But last September, the ruling was overturned by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which found that federal law does not require the state to eliminate inequalities for which it was not responsible.

Before the appeals court ruling, the Washington state Legislature appointed a task force to negotiate a settlement with the union and appropriated a fund of $41.6 million to finance the settlement. Tuesday’s agreement, which is the result of those negotiations, will require additional appropriations by the Legislature.