Supreme Court Plans to Hear Job Bias Suit

WASHINGTON-The Supreme Court announced yesterday it will decide whether employees with no proven history of racial bias illegally discriminate against whites when giving preference to minority workers.

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In a case that may have more impact than last summer's Bakke ruling, the justices will hear three appeals stemming from a Louisiana job-discrimination law-suit.

Brain F. Weber, a white employee at Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Co.'s Grammercy, La, plant, charged the company's affirmative action program made him a victim of "reverse discrimination."

Two lower federal courts ruled that the program, aimed at landing more blacks in higher paying jobs, was illegal because it fostered racial bias against Weber.

Bakke Redux?

In Grammercy, Weber expressed confidence the court would decide in his favor. "It's been almost four years since the suit was filed and I didn't expect to get near this status," he said. "I would have been satisfied to have resolved at any time in the past four years, but I guess it's too important to be settled this early."

The justices' decision will probably be reached sometime before next July.