Congress, Courts, and Agencies

In January 1979, Sears, Roebuck and Company filed a suit in the Washington, D.C., federal district court against ten federal agencies that share responsibility for the administration of equal employment policies in the United States. I In its thirty-two page complaint, Sears charged the federal government with promulgating conflicting requirements in federal employment laws; failing to provide a diverse work force by not enforcing fair housing and educatioll statutes; failing to develop adequate statistical data with which private employment figures could be compared; and fostering discriminatory practices within the federal government itself. Among the fifteen specific reliefs requested by Sears was an injunction requiring the defendants to coordinate the enforcement of antidiscrimination statutes and, specifically, to issue uniform guidelines which instruct employers how to resolve existing conflicts between affirmative action requirements based on race and sex and those based on veteran's status, age, and physical or mental handicaps.2 Sears placed much of the blame for the diffidence of the federal government in its equal employment opportunity efforts on post-World War II statutes that required that special consideration be given veterans in the employment prac

Political science · Labor Movements and Unions · Public Administration

• Judicial Review of Administrative Agencies

  Open Access•Donald W Crowley•The Western Political Quarterly•1987

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• Race, Housing, and Public Policies

  Open Access•John Goering, John M Goering•Urban Affairs Quarterly•1982

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• The Origins of Affirmative Action

  Open Access•Hugh Davis Graham•The Annals of the American…•1992

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• Policy Recommendations for Multi-Actor Implementation

  Open Access•Laurence J O''Toole, Laurence J O’toole et al.•Journal of Public Policy•1986

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