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JOCELYN
D. LARKIN (SBN 110817) THE
IMPACT FUND 125
University Avenue Berkeley,
CA 94710 Telephone: (510)
845-3473 Facsimile: (510) 845-3654 |
JOSEPH
SELLERS CHRISTINE
WEBBER CHARLES
TOMPKINS JULIE
GOLDSMITH COHEN,
MILSTEIN, HAUSFELD & TOLL West
Tower – Suite 500 1100
New York Avenue Washington,
D.C. 20005-3964 Telephone: (202) 408-4600 Facsimile: (202) 408-4699 |
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IRMA
D. HERRERA (SBN 98658) DEBRA
A. SMITH (SBN 147863) EQUAL
RIGHTS ADVOCATES 1663
Mission Street, Suite 250 San
Francisco, CA 94103 Telephone: (415)
621-0672 Facsimile: (415) 621-6744 |
STEPHEN
TINKLER MERIT
BENNETT TINKLER
& BENNETT 309
Johnson Street Santa
Fe, New Mexico 87501 Telephone: (505) 986-0269 Facsimile: (505) 982-6698 |
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SHEILA
Y. THOMAS (SBN 161403) EQUAL
RIGHTS ADVOCATES 5260
Proctor Avenue Oakland,
CA 94618 Telephone: (510) 339-3739 Facsimile: (510) 339-3723 |
DEBRA
GARDNER PUBLIC
JUSTICE CENTER 500
East Lexington Street Baltimore,
MD 21202 Telephone: (410) 625-9409 Facsimile: (410) 625-9423 |
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STEVE
STEMERMAN (SBN 067690) ELIZABETH
LAWRENCE (SBN 111781) DAVIS,
COWELL & BOWE 100
Van Ness Avenue, 20th Floor San
Francisco, CA 94102 Telephone: (415)
626-1880 Facsimile: (415) 626-2860 Attorneys for Plaintiffs |
SHAUNA
MARSHALL (SBN 90641) HASTINGS
COLLEGE OF THE LAW 200
McAllister Street San Francisco, CA 94102 Telephone: (415)
565-4685 Facsimile: (415) 565-4854 |
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
I, Danette Brown Ballou, declare:
1.
I make this statement on the basis of my personal knowledge, and, if
called as a witness, could and would testify competently to the facts herein.
2. I am
a forty-one year old woman currently employed as the Health and Beauty Aids
Department Manager at a Wal-Mart store in Bentonville, Arkansas. I have been an employee of Wal-Mart for over
twenty-two years. I was first hired in
September 1980 in El Reno, Oklahoma during the early days before Wal-Mart
became the large company that it is today.
During most of my time at Wal-Mart, I have received above standard
performance evaluations.
3.
I applied for a position with Wal-Mart because I wanted to work for a
company where I thought there were opportunities for advancement with the company. When I first started with Wal-Mart, I worked
as a part-time cashier. I worked in several positions in the store, working
whatever hours were required of me, including weekends.
4.
While I was in the El Reno store, I told store manager Marv Simon in approximately
1985 or 1986 that I was interested in entering the Management Training
Program. I had not been aware,
initially, of the Assistant Manager Training Program but had observed that
management trainees came to the store for training during my time at the El
Reno store, which had been a training store.
I expressed interest in management training to Mr. Simon because it
appeared to me that there was no potential for advancement in the El Reno store
due to its size and low turnover in more responsible positions. I was willing to relocate to another store in
an effort to take a more responsible position in the company.
5.
Mr. Simon informed me that he would make some calls. However, when I was offered two new
assignments, neither was an offer to enter the Management Training
Program. Instead, I was offered other
hourly positions: a cash office job in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and a position in Lay-Away in Kingfisher, Oklahoma.
6.
I accepted the cash office job in Oklahoma City in
approximately October 1986 in the hopes of gaining more experience and job
responsibilities and so be promoted into a managerial position. My job responsibilities during this time
period also included working as relief for claims and the District Secretary
for District Manager Chuck Myers. While
I worked in the Oklahoma City store, I expressed interest in becoming an
assistant manager to Assistant Manager Clayton Crosby. Mr. Crosby did not tell me what I needed to
do to be promoted. I am not aware of any
action Mr. Crosby or any other member of management took to promote me into the
Assistant Manager Training Program.
7.
In October 1987, I accepted a job in the cash office and as a Support
Manager in Fort Smith, Arkansas after my then husband Jack Brown, who an
Assistant Manager, was transferred to a Wal-Mart store in Sallisaw,
Oklahoma. As a Support Manager, I
performed many of the same duties as those of an Assistant Manager. I observed, however, that another female
Support Manager, Karla Buck, and I performed the same duties, but a male
Support Manager, Jerral was allowed to close the store, a responsibility
neither Ms. Buck nor I were given while
I was at the store. The only apparent
reason that Jerral was allowed to close when Ms. Buck and I were not allowed to
do so was because he is a man.
8.
In September 1988, I transferred to the Home Office in Bentonville,
Arkansas to work in the data communications department after my husband was
transferred to the Fayetteville, Arkansas store. I worked in the Home Office for approximately
four years. Initially, I supported what
is now known as the SMART system and handled calls from Wal-Mart stores all
over the country. During the year that I was in this position, computerized
information available on the SMART system was available in each of the
stores. Cash reports, payroll and
warehouse orders were transmitted to the Home Office through the system.
9.
My next assignment in Home Office was in an area called Components
supporting Telxon and Bass systems for
Wal-Mart stores nationwide. Both Telxon
and Bass are hand held devices used to order merchandise in the stores. The job required me to answer calls
concerning problems with both devices from associates in the field. I was in this position for approximately year
and then went out on maternity leave.
When I returned, I returned to components to a position in which I took
messages. I was, soon after, assigned to
the position of operator where I took messages from Wal-Mart stores nationwide
for any problem in the stores. Finally,
I moved to the point-of-sale group where I took calls from Wal-Mart stores
nationwide in which the cash registers in the stores were inoperative. My responsibilities included ordering
hardware for the stores and in other instances calling vendors for service.
10.
My final assignment required me to answer calls and take messages for
any problem in Wal-Mart stores nationwide.
11.
I requested a transfer out of the Home Office because I did not feel
that there were any other opportunities for me in the Home Office except
continuing in field support. In July 1992, I transferred to the Supercenter
store in Bentonville, Arkansas where I have been for the last eleven
years. When I transferred there, I did
not receive any additional training to work in the store. The store ran in the same manner as the three
other Wal-Mart stores had before I transferred to Bentonville.
12.
The positions I have held in the Bentonville store have included UPC
clerk, invoice clerk, cash office manager, CSM, cost invoice clerk, deli clerk
and, finally, Department Manager for Health and Beauty Aids. Each of these positions is one typically
held by female associates. I received
a promotion to Department Manager of Health and Beauty Aids in November 2002. I
have continued to be interested in management positions while I have worked in
the Bentonville store. However, I have
been discouraged from seeking the position of Assistant Manager Trainee because
of the relocation requirement that exists within Wal-Mart. I observed that my
former husband, Jack Brown, and other
trainees were required to relocate. Because I was a single mother for much of
the time I have been at the Bentonville store, I did not feel that I could
enter into the Assistant Manager Trainee Program because it would require me to
relocate and uproot my son. Moreover, the Resident Assistant Manager program,
which allows an Assistant Manager to remain in the same store, was not an
option because of the requirement that only one Resident Assistant Manager may
work in a store. The Bentonville store
has a male Resident Assistant Manager, Ron Evans, who has been with the company
many years.
13.
In an effort to broaden and expand my experience and responsibilities,
I have expressed interest in working in departments that are typically filled
by men. Throughout my employment with
Wal-Mart, I have observed that the departments in the stores that are
predominately staffed by men are hardware, automotive, sporting goods, the meat
department, produce, receiving and unloading, and Tire and Lube Express
(“TLE”). This observation has been
reinforced by comments from Managers to whom I have expressed an interest in
transferring into these departments. . For example, in approximately late 1996 or
early 1997, I informed TLE manager Steve Smith that I was interested in a
Support Manager position. He
discouraged me and did not give me the position.
14.
I also expressed interest in working in the produce department to
Assistant Manager David Schuler sometime in approximately the summer of
2000. I was particularly interested in
learning why primarily men worked in the area.
Assistant Manager Schuler responded that the department needed men
because of the lifting of heavy boxes of fruit and women could not or would not
do the work. In the last year, I expressed
interest in a position in sporting goods that was not posted to Store Manager
Gary Rains. Store Manager Rains
responded "what do you know about sporting goods?"
15.
In November 2002, after my deposition was taken in this case, I was
promoted to Department Manager for Health and Beauty Aids after I applied for
the position. On March 21, 2003, I
learned from District Manager Joe Mains that after 22 years I had been accepted
into the Assistant Manager Training
Program that started on April 5,
2003. This only occurred after I was
allowed to apply on the Pipeline, the company's centralized computerized
system, for the position in January 2003.
This is the first time there was an opportunity to apply for the training
program. Finally, I feel that I am being
given an opportunity that I deserved long ago.
16.
For most of the 22 years I have been with Wal-Mart, available positions
have been rarely posted. The posted positions on Pipeline I viewed prior to
late last year were frequently out of
date. In each store where I have
worked, I have frequently observed management making job assignments and
promotional decisions without posting open opportunities or interviewing
interested candidates.
17.
I declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States and
State of __________________ that the foregoing is true and correct.
This Declaration was signed by me on ______________________, 2003, at _______________________.
_________________________________________
S:\SHARE\LEGAL\Walmart\Declarations\DanetteBrownBallou Class Cert dec.doc