News In Brief

Civil rights chief criticizes comparable pay for women

The concept of comparable pay for women is ''the looniest idea since Looney Tunes came on the screen,'' the chairman of the US Civil Rights Commission, Clarence M. Pendleton Jr., said Friday. The commission will take up the subject of comparable worth next year, he said.

Comparable worth means that wages paid men and women holding different jobs should be based on factors such as levels of skill and responsibility. Pendleton said the concept would discourages women from seeking traditionally male jobs.

(See related story, Page 8.)