BRAD SELIGMAN (SBN 083838)

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

 

BETTY DUKES, PATRICIA SURGESON, EDITH ARANA, DEBORAH GUNTER, CHRISTINE KWAPNOSKI, CLEO PAGE, KAREN WILLIAMSON, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated,

 

                        Plaintiffs,

            vs.

WAL-MART STORES, INC.,

                        Defendant

Case No. C-01-2252 MJJ

 

 

 

 

DECLARATION OF PATRICIA BUCKLEY IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION

 

I, Patricia Buckley, declare:

            1.         I am a female who lives in Noble, Oklahoma.  From July 2000 to August 2001, I worked at the Wal-Mart  Supercenter in Norman, Oklahoma.

            2.         When I applied at Wal-Mart, I was pursuing a degree in business management from Moore Norman Technology Center.  I was looking for an opportunity to develop a career in business management        

3.         During my interview at Wal-Mart, I told Assistant Manager Mark that I was interested in management at Wal-Mart and that I was concurrently seeking my degree in that area.  He told me that the only positions available in the store were cashier or people greeter positions, and that a cashier was a good place to begin if I wanted to become a manager.  He explained to me that the first thing managers need to learn is how to run the front end of the store, including the cashier, lay-away and customer service positions. 

4.         I took the cashier position believing that it would be a stepping stone to a management position.  Once I learned the cashier position, I began asking Assistant Manager Mark and Assistant Manager Landon for training in customer service and lay-away to prepare myself to become a manager.  Although I requested cross-training repeatedly, I was never provided any training in either of these areas for the entire year I worked at Wal-Mart.

5.         I observed that most of the cashiers at the Supercenter were female.  In contrast, most of the managers were male.  The Store Manager, the Co-Managers and the majority of Assistant Managers at my store were male.

6.         During my employment at Wal-Mart, I spoke to Assistant Managers Mark and Landon several times about my interest in business management.  I even noted on my annual performance appraisal in June, 2001, that I wanted to “move up in the company.”      

7.         Despite my interest in a promotion to the management level, neither Assistant Manager Mark nor Assistant Manager Landon offered me an opportunity to apply for the Management Training Program.  I never saw any written information about the program, and during my time at Wal-Mart, I was never even told that this program existed.  I was given no information concerning how to be promoted to management training, or what I needed to do to be promoted.  To my knowledge, there were never any positions posted for the Management Training Program during my employment at Wal-Mart.   I also never saw any written information regarding any prerequisites for joining management at Wal-Mart.        

            8.         After a year in the cashier position at Wal-Mart with no opportunity to gain additional knowledge or experience of store operations, and no encouragement from management, it was apparent that Wal-Mart was not going to advance me past my current hourly, non-management position.  I terminated my employment with Wal-Mart in August 2001.

            9.         I would consider returning to work for Wal-Mart if I was assured that I would be provided fair opportunities for advancement, fair wages and a non-discriminatory work environment           I have personal knowledge of each and every fact set forth in the Declaration, and if called to testify as a witness in this matter, I could and would competently testify to each of these facts.

            I declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States and State of Oklahoma that the foregoing is true and correct.

            This Declaration was signed by me on ______________________, 2003, at _______________________.

                                                                                    ______________________________

Patricia Buckley

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