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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 |
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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
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BETTY DUKES, PATRICIA
SURGESON, CLEO PAGE, CHRISTINE KWAPNOSKI, DEBORAH GUNTER, KAREN WILLIAMSON
AND EDITH ARANA, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiff, vs. WAL-MART
STORES, INC., Defendant
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Case No. C-01-2252 MJJ DECLARATION OF THEARSA
COLLIER IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION |
I, Thearsa Collier, 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
was employed by Wal-Mart, Inc. from January 2000 until January 2001. I am female.
I have a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master's in Public
Administration. I reside in Virginia.
3. Prior
to working at Wal-Mart, I was in the United States Navy for nine years, and
then I worked in retail. During my
tenure in the Navy, I ran a pediatric trauma unit, was responsible for a
$260,000 annual medical budget, and supervised as many as 40 people. I also received leadership training in two
separate courses entitled Total Quality Leadership and Total Quality
Management. I was honorably discharged
as a Hospital Corpsman, Third Class.
After my discharge from the Navy,
I worked in retail as a sales associate for the Army Air Force Exchange Service
(AAFES). At AAFES, I received training
in customer service, stocking, zoning and running the cash registers.
4. During
my time at AAFES, I fell in love with retail work and decided that I wanted to
make a career out of it. Both my father
and brother had worked for Wal-Mart, and I was impressed with what I thought
was the Company's culture of valuing its associates and creating a good working
environment.
5. In
November 1999, I applied to be an Assistant Manager Trainee at Wal-Mart.. I was interviewed by Bob Hart, a District
Manager. During that interview, Mr. Hart
stated that as a manager in Wal-Mart, I would be required to move from store to
store. I explained to Mr. Hart that my
father had just passed away, and that I needed to work in Northwest Florida so
that I could be near my mother and help to take care of her. I explained that I would be glad to move from
store to store, as long as those stores were in the Florida panhandle. Mr. Hart said 'okay', and I understood that I
would only be relocated to locations within Northwest Florida. He said that he would be sending me a letter
regarding relocation that I would need to sign, and I assumed when I signed it
that it encompassed my understanding with Mr. Hart. Indeed, I thought that I would not have been
hired if what I told Mr. Hart about needing to stay in that region was a
problem.
6. In
January 2000, I became an Assistant Manager Trainee at a Supercenter store in
Crestview, Florida. I trained there for
sixteen weeks with Mike Whittaker, an Assistant Manager. Mr. Whittaker was primarily a manager of
hardlines, so I received extensive training in hardlines. I never received any written evaluation, but
sometime in March, District Manager Hart provided an oral training review. He told me that both my Store Manager, Jon
Kurpil, and Mr. Whittaker were impressed with my people skills and how fast I
learn. Mr Hart also indicated that
trainees usually complete all training before becoming a full Assistant
Manager.
7. Toward the
end of my training, Judy Langford, a District Manager from Alabama, and Steve
Lawrence, a Store Manager from a store in Geneva, Alabama came to speak with me
about an Assistant Manager position in Mr. Lawrence's store. The Geneva store was about 80 miles from
where I was living, and outside of the area I had requested to work in. Additionally, it was not a Supercenter, so I
knew I would not be able to work my way up to Co-Manager. When I asked to stay in the Crestview,
Florida store, or relocate closer to my home and my widowed mother, I was told
by Store Manager Kurpil that if I did not go to the store in Geneva, I could be
sent anywhere, including California. I
also asked District Manager Hart again about openings in the Florida panhandle,
but he just became agitated and said that I had to be able to move within a
five hour radius. Because I was afraid of
getting transferred even further, I agreed to go to Alabama.
8. I
was very disappointed that I had to move to a store in Alabama, and I was
especially confused about what the relocation policy required in light of what
I learned from some men. First, Jesse
Hill, a male manager of the meat department told me that I could stay in the
Crestview store if Mr. Hart or Mr. Kurpill wanted me to stay; he said they
could make it happen if they wanted.
When I asked Mr. Hart about this statement, he did not specifically deny
it, and his silence made me think it was true.
Likewise, other male members of management told me that they were able
to choose their stores. Specifically,
Scott Suczes, a Store Manager, told me during a leadership training I attended
in May 2000, that he was able to stay as an Assistant Manager in the store he
trained in; similarly, Mike Whittaker told me he was able to choose the
Crestview store, and David Moody, an Assistant Manager at Crestview, told me he
was transferred to Ft. Walton Beach at his request. I was never informed exactly what the policy
really required; after hearing all the conflicting stories, I felt like there
was no real policy and that I just had no choice but to go to Geneva.
9. When
I arrived in the Geneva, Alabama store in April 2000, I was given a position over softlines by
Steve Lawrence, the Store Manager. There
was one other Assistant Manager in the store, a male named Carl Gassett, and he
was assigned to hardlines. In the Geneva
store, the Assistant Managers did not rotate, and I was disappointed in being
assigned to softlines. I had understood,
based on my training at the Crestview store, that Assistant Managers rotate,
but Mr. Gassett told me he never worked over softlines. I preferred hardlines because Mike Whittaker
told me that managers over hardlines are normally promoted faster and given
more opportunity for promotion; I hoped that I could move to hardlines
soon. During a managerial meeting District Manager Judy Langford asked Store
Manager Lawrence why he always put the female Assistant Mangers over softlines,
and he told her "because that's what women know." Ms. Langford did not respond or disagree with
his comment. District Manager Langford
did not instruct Store Manager Lawrence to change the assignments, or to base
assignments on any factors other than his stereotypical prejudices. Again, I believed I had no choice but to stay
in softlines in that store.
10. Prior to beginning at the Geneva store, I had been scheduled to
attend a leadership training school.
Once in Geneva, Mr. Lawrence did not think I should attend, but District
Manager Hart intervened and advocated on my behalf. After that, I was touring the store with Mr.
Lawrence, and --in a tone of disgust -- he told me that as a "black"
and as a "woman", I would go far with Wal-Mart. I knew from his tone of voice that he would
never give me a fair chance to succeed.
11. During
this leadership training, I learned that there is no policy requiring an
Assistant Manager to stay in a given store for a certain amount of time, and
that, in fact, moving can help with promotion.
More specifically, Mr. Scott Suczes told me that there are no set limits
for how long one had to stay in a store, and that he moved several times in
order to make himself more knowledgeable and promotable. Because of what he told me, because I felt
like I could not advance as far as an Assistant Manager of softlines in the
smaller Geneva store, and because of my continued need to help my mother, I
requested to be transferred back to Florida as soon as I returned from
leadership training. I made the request
to Mr. Lawrence, the Store Manager. My
request was denied. Contrary to what I
had been taught at the leadership training, Mr. Lawrence told me that I had to
stay in his store for a minimum of eighteen months to two years. I made several other requests after this, and
each time I was again told by Store Manager Lawrence and/or District Manager
Langford that I would have to wait to be transferred even though I had been
told differently by the men at the leadership training program.
12. During
this time, I attempted to use the Open Door policy to address my concerns. This policy provides that any employee can
discuss with any superior, up to and including the CEO, any concerns the
employee has, and that the employee can expect
a fair and responsible exchange.
I called Regional Personnel Managers Steve Schultheis and Rudy Eckerman,
several times to discuss my inability to be transferred, as well as continuing
problems I was having with Store Manager
Lawrence. In particular, I explained to
them that Mr. Lawrence yelled at me on nearly a
daily basis and embarrassed me in front of the associates. In contrast, Assistant Manager Carl Gassett
made frequent mistakes and often could not work a register properly, but when I
expressed concerns about him, Mr. Lawrence would say "that's just
Karl." Admittedly, Mr. Lawrence had
a loud voice, but his harsh tone, severe looks and bullying demeanor were
generally reserved for me. Additionally,
I was the only one he told: "We're all rednecks here, so you might as well
get used to it." Mr. Eckerman told
me that he had investigated the complaints by asking Mr. Lawrence about it, and
that he believed Mr. Lawrence. I later
found out that Wal-Mart had confirmed that Mr. Lawrence made the statement
about everyone being a redneck, as well as the statement about blacks and women
advancing. (Attached hereto as Collier
Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of a memo from Mr. Eckerman to Tom
Coughlin, the President and CEO of Wal-Mart).
13. In
late July 2000, I purchased some plants on my lunch hour. There was a pricing discrepancy, and the
associate gave me a discount on one plant.
Charles Howell, the Support Manager on duty then reviewed the policy on
the computer and told me that I should get the lower price on all my
purchases. When I asked the service desk
for the discount for all the purchases, the associate was unable to re-ring the
purchase with all the discounts. I then
learned from one of the associates who was present, Theresa Bryant, that I
should not have received any discount for any purchase. Again, however, the service desk associate
was unable to re-ring the purchase to take off the discount before the store
closed. As soon as I returned to work, I
informed the new Store Manager, Kathy Searcy, about the error. I had been trained that Wal-Mart policy
provides that if you learn of an error that has occurred, you are to inform
management so that they can correct the situation, and that no form of
retaliation will take place if you do so.
Despite this policy, I received a written disciplinary note, or
coaching, stating that my attempt to get the discount was "contrary to
company policy." The coaching
indicated that I had 45 days to show significant improvement. I had never seen any male Manager have their
mistakes held against them in this way; in fact, it was Support Manager Charles
Howell who gave me the wrong information on the company policy, and nobody said
anything to him about that.
14. Shortly
after this incident, I again called Mr. Eckerman to complain about my working
conditions. I said that it was not right
that I had been disciplined for an honest error I had tried to correct, and
that I was being discriminated against.
In response to this attempt to use the Open Door, Mr. Eckerman told me
that I would be transferred to a store in Thomasville, Georgia, a store that
was three hours from where my mother lived and even further than the Geneva
store. He also said that I would be
monitored for six months instead of forty-five days, and that if I performed
well during the six months, he would remove the coaching from my record. I told Mr. Eckerman that the coaching should
be removed immediately altogether, but he said that was the best he would
do. Mr. Eckermon expressed no concern
with my report of discrimination nor did he indicate that there would be any
investigation or followup. There was no
indication of how long I would have to remain in Georgia, nor when, if ever, I
could return to Northwest Florida.
15. In
August 2000, I wrote a letter to the President and CEO of Wal-Mart complaining
of discrimination based on gender and race.
I never received any response to this Open Door effort. Instead, I was transferred to the Thomasville
store in September, where I felt like my every move was being watched. I realized that the Open Door policy at
Wal-Mart was a façade and resulted only in retaliation.
16. Sometime
in December 2000 or early January 2001, Mitch Day, the District Manager for the
Thomasville store, told me that he
"did not believe what he had heard" and that I was a very good worker
with a good personality. I knew that my
use of the Open Door had not been confidential, and had resulted in my new
District Manager receiving unfair reports against me before I had any chance to
defend my reputation. His comments
solidified my belief that I was a victim of a good 'ole boys club.
17. As
soon as I was told that I had to be monitored for six months, I gave up hope of
making my career at Wal-Mart and began pursuing other jobs. In December 2000, I was offered a position at
the AAFES, where I had worked prior to Wal-Mart. The position paid better, and I felt I would
have a more fair chance to advance. I
told Wal-Mart that I was leaving for a better job because I realized that
Wal-Mart would not listen to my concerns, and that my efforts to address the
discrimination that I had faced resulted only in retaliation and additional
discrimination. After giving proper
notice, I left Wal-Mart in January 2001.
I declare
under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States and State of Virginia
that the foregoing is true and correct.
This
Declaration was signed by me on ______________________, 2003, at
_______________________.
______________________________