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Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Sears, Roebuck & Co.

628 F. Supp. 1264 (1986)

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Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Sears, Roebuck & Co.

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
628 F. Supp. 1264 (1986)

Facts

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (plaintiff) sued Sears, Roebuck & Co. (Sears) (defendant), the world’s largest retailer of general merchandise, alleging that Sears discriminated against women nationwide in virtually all aspects of its business between 1973 and 1980. A 10-month trial was held on two claims that Sears engaged in a nationwide pattern or practice of sex discrimination. One of those claims alleged that Sears failed to hire female applicants for commission-sales positions on the same basis as male applicants and failed to promote female noncommission salespersons into commission sales on the same basis as Sears promoted similarly situated men. At trial, the EEOC introduced evidence of statistical disparities between the hiring and promotion of men and women into commission sales during the relevant timeframe. No witnesses testified that Sears discriminated against them personally. Sears introduced evidence of affirmative-action programs it had implemented to recruit women to its commission-sales force, as well as statistical evidence that, according to Sears, showed that (1) women were less interested than men in the company’s commission-sales jobs and (2) Sears did not intentionally discriminate against women.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Nordberg, J.)

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