Business: Sears Setback

Affirmative action affirmed

Frustrated by what it regards as conflicting goals set by various Government agencies for hiring and promoting minorities and women, Sears, Roebuck and Co. brought a class-action suit against ten federal agencies last January. Sears wanted a clarification of affirmative-action policy and an admission from the Government that the company's hiring practices, long the subject of an investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, were within the law.

Last week in Washington, Federal District Judge June L. Green dismissed Sears' complaint with the tart observation that "realization of the national policy of genuine equal opportunity for all citizens is a formidable task, but it isn't beyond the notable skill and competence of Sears." A number of businessmen, who also find the regulations murky, felt that the real purpose of the suit had been served, as one competing big retailer put it, by "spreading the word of protest against Government employment interference." But the key fact was that the courts once again affirmed that affirmative action is here to stay.