|
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 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 |
|
SHEILA
Y. THOMAS (SBN 161403) 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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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 |
DEBRA
GARDNER PUBLIC
JUSTICE CENTER 500
East Lexington Street Baltimore,
MD 21202 Telephone: (410) 625-9409 Facsimile: (410) 625-9423 |
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SHAUNA
MARSHALL (SBN 90641) HASTINGS
COLLEGE OF THE LAW 200
McAllister Street San Francisco, CA 94102 Telephone: (415)
565-4685 Facsimile:
(415) 565-4854 Attorneys for Plaintiffs |
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
I, Jeanette Connaker, declare:
1. I was employed at Wal-Mart from August
1994 until September 17, 1999. I worked
at store No. 1507 in Wichita, Kansas, which was originally a regular Wal-Mart
store and later became a Supercenter.
2. Before I began my employment at
Wal-Mart I had retail work experience at Sears and several years of management
experience. My first management
opportunity was at Olive’s East, a retail gift shop and cafe in Aurora,
Colorado, where I worked as an Assistant Manager. I also worked as an Assistant Manager of Milo
Beauty and Barber Supply when I lived in St. Louis, Missouri.
3. I excelled in all of my positions at
Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart recognized my
contribution to the store through promotions, raises and awards. However, despite my proven performance and my
repeated communication that I wanted to become a support manager or assistant
manager, Wal-Mart would not give me the opportunity to progress past the
department manager/zone manager positions.
After five years of service to Wal-Mart I finally realized I had reached
a dead-end and left to pursue other opportunities to further my career goals.
4. Initially Wal-Mart hired me as a
fulltime cashier. Within 90 days of
being hired, I was promoted to customer service manager supervising the
cashiers. In 1995, after working as a
customer service manager for about a year, I decided that I wanted to work my
way into a support manager and then assistant manager position with
Wal-Mart. Since support managers and
assistant managers had to be familiar with several different departments and
positions in the store, I decided to step down from the customer service
manager position in order to familiarize myself with other departments and
positions in the store.
5. The first position I took was a sales
associate position in electronics. In
July 1996 I was evaluated as “above standard” on my performance in that
position. On that evaluation, I
communicated and recorded the career goals I had developed at that time, which
were to learn the store “from front to back.,” to work toward my fullest
potential at Wal-Mart, to become a department manager and to work toward
obtaining a support manager position. See
Jeanette Connaker’s July 1996 Associate Evaluation, a true and correct copy
hereto attached as Exhibit A.
6. In September of 1996 I reached my goal
of becoming a department manager when I was selected for the position of
department manager of toys by Store Manager Mike Davison. In July of 1997 I was evaluated in the toy
department manager position. Again I was
rated as an “above standard” employee.
And once again I informed Wal-Mart that I planned to continue to “strive
for excellence” in my employment and to continue to obtain positions with
“increase[d] responsibility.” I set the
goals of obtaining a promotion to Zone Manager, an hourly supervisory position,
and to reach Assistant Manager within two years, which I stated on the
evaluation. See Jeanette Connaker’s
July 1997 Associate Evaluation, a true and correct copy hereto attached as
Exhibit B.
7. Within a few months of my 1997 annual
performance evaluation, I reached my goal of becoming zone manager (similar to
a department manager), when I applied for and received the position of zone
manager of infants. I was evaluated on
my performance in this position in July 1998.
I continued to be rated as “above standard.” I also continued to use the evaluation as an
opportunity to remind Wal-Mart of my career goal to be promoted within the
company. This time I wrote that I “would
like to move up in management.” See
Jeanette Connaker’s July 1998 Associate Evaluation, a true and correct copy
hereto attached as Exhibit C.
8. Throughout my employment with Wal-Mart
I tried to talk to my store’s District Managers about getting into the
Management Training Program. Both
District Managers told me that I would have to relocate out of state to enter
the program. I never saw a man relocate
out of state when he entered the program.
However, I was willing to consider relocation in order to become
assistant manager and even spoke to Co-Manager Barry Barger about relocating to
New Mexico.
9. When I talked to Co-Manager Barry
Barger about entering the Management Training Program he told me to keep
working, I was almost there. In the
summer of 1998 Mr. Barger transferred to a store in New Mexico. I talked to him when he was in New Mexico
about transferring into the Management Training Program in New Mexico. Mr. Barger told me I would have to transfer
to New Mexico as a department manager. I
did not want to take the chance of moving to New Mexico for just another hourly
position and only the hope of a promotion.
Therefore I decided not to make the move.
10. On September 17, 1998 I received a Great
Job Award from Executive Vice President Tom Coughlin, Senior Vice President
Kendall Schwindt and the Regional Vice President for my performance as zone
manager of infants during Wal-Mart’s Baby Week.
The award states that Wal-Mart was recognizing me for “exceeding…
[Wal-Mart’s] expectations above and beyond!”
Wal-Mart rewarded me with a Great Jobs button to wear on my uniform and
one share of Wal-Mart stock. See September 17, 1998 Great Job Award and
Letter from Kendall Schwindt, a true and correct copy hereto attached as
Exhibit D.
11. My performance continued to catch the
attention of Wal-Mart. In January 1999 I
received a merit raise for developing the infants department into “one of the
best departments, nationally.” Mike
Potter, my co-manager, filled out the Associate’s Commendation Form. Mr. Potter praised me for increasing sales in
my department by 19% and contributing almost a half million dollars in profit
to the store over the past year. He also
commended me for consistently placing either first or second in sales volume
for the district and also for creating a stable associate team in my
department, marked by little turnover. See
January 17, 1999 Associate’s Commendation Form, a true and correct copy hereto
attached s Exhibit E.
12. Less than one month later, in February
1999, I was chosen as Associate of the Month for my store.
13. In March 1999, a support manager position
became available. I immediately applied
because I had been looking for an opportunity to reach my goal of becoming a
support manager. At the time I applied
for the support manager position, I had four years experience with Wal-Mart, I
had held three different management positions with Wal-Mart, and I had received
two awards and a merit raise in those management positions. However, I was not even interviewed for the
support manager position. Brian Brown, a
young male, was selected for the support manager position instead of me. Mr. Brown had worked at Wal-Mart for less
than a year as a stocker in the lawn and garden department. He had never held a management position with
Wal-Mart.
14. After Wal-Mart overlooked me for the
support manager position, I approached co-manager Mike Potter. I told him I wanted to know why I had not
been interviewed for the position. I
also told him I was upset that the support manager position had been given to a
male associate who had less experience than me.
Mike Potter became irate after I mentioned a male had been chosen for
the position. He did an about-face and
told me that my performance evaluations were overstated and I was not worthy of
a support manager position. He told me I
would never move up within the company. Soon
thereafter Mr. Potter gave me my first written coaching.
15. I then went to another co-manager and
complained about not being interviewed and Mr. Potter’s reaction to me, but the
co-manager just ignored me. Then
suddenly, two or three days after I complained that the support manager position
was given to a less experienced male, Wal-Mart placed a female customer service
manager in an overnight support manager position. This sudden, new support manager opening had
never been posted.
16. In July of 1999 I received my last
evaluation with Wal-Mart. I was rated as
“exceeds expectations,” the highest rating possible. Although I felt that Wal-Mart’s decision to
promote Mr. Brown instead of me and Wal-Mart’s subsequent poor treatment of me
indicated that they may never promote me, I still let Wal-Mart know that I was
seeking a promotion during my evaluation. I noted that I wanted to “continued
to learn and grow with Wal-Mart [and I] would still like to work toward support
manager or assistant manager.” See
Jeanette Connaker’s July 1999 performance evaluation, a true and correct copy
hereto attached as Exhibit F.
17. During the first week of September 1999,
I spoke with Kent Grier, assistant manager of softlines about not receiving the
support manager position in March. Our
District Manager was touring the store and I asked Mr. Grier if it would do any
good to complain to the district manager about the position being given to
Brian, who was less qualified than me, before I was even interviewed. Mr. Grier told me that talking to the
District Manager would be pointless, I was not going to get promoted.
18. After my conversation with Mr. Grier I
was convinced that despite my hard work and my great performance evaluations I
was not going to get promoted. I gave
Wal-Mart my notice and then left Wal-Mart to pursue college coursework.
19. During my five years with Wal-Mart there
were no female co-managers and there were no female store managers of my
store. There were no female district
managers in my store’s district.
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
__________________ that the foregoing is true and correct.
/
/
/
This
Declaration was signed by me on ______________________, 2003, at
_______________________.
______________________________
Jeanette
Connaker
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