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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 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, Susan Hitch, declare:
1. I am a 39
year old female living in Livermore, Colorado.
I worked for Wal-Mart from January 25, 1999 until I resigned from
employment on December 29, 2000 out of frustration with the lack of promotional
opportunities.
2. During my
employment at Wal-Mart, I encountered discrimination based upon my gender with
regard to promotions and training opportunities. In addition, I experienced retaliation for
voicing my complaints of discrimination to Wal-Mart managers.
3. I started
working at Wal-Mart’s Longmont, Colorado, store as a Cashier. I also worked as a Layaway Clerk, Customer
Service Manager (hourly), Stocker, Safety Team Leader, risk management, fund
raising, Furniture Department Manager and Support Manager.
4. I spoke
to Kent McCoy, the Store Manager, on numerous occasions and expressed an
interest in being promoted into a salaried management position. I specifically remember one such meeting with
Mr. McCoy in approximately September, 1999, when I was a Safety Team Leader. Mr. McCoy falsely told me that I had to be a
Department Manager before being promoted into a management job at
Wal-Mart. I also spoke to Jim Mohan, the
District Manager, about my desire to work in management at Wal-Mart. Mr. Mohan replied that Wal-Mart would train
me for an Assistant Manager position.
Mr. Mohan led me to believe that the training would commence within two
to four weeks. When I was not assigned
to the Management Training Program after a couple of weeks, I again inquired of
Mr. Mohan and Mr. McCoy why there was a delay in my training. Neither Mr. Mohan nor Mr. McCoy explained why
training had not started. For weeks
thereafter, I continued to ask these men when my Assistant Manager training
would begin, but they only ignored my further inquiries.
5. In March,
2000, I was promoted into an hourly Furniture Department Manager position. During my time in this position, department
sales increased by 72% and I was invited to attend a meeting in Arkansas as the
representative for the Longmont, Colorado, store.
6. I
attended this meeting in Arkansas in the spring or early summer of 2000. I noticed that most of the managers attending
the meeting were young males. I saw very
few female district or regional managers at this meeting. Coincidentally, during this meeting, nuns who
owned stock in Wal-Mart accused Wal-Mart of discrimination against women.
7. After I
attended the meeting in Arkansas, I spoke to Kent McCoy, the Store Manager, and
Rick Caputa, the Co-Manager of the store, and again told them that I wanted to
be promoted into a salaried management position. I also told them that I felt Wal-Mart
discriminated against women. Mr. McCoy
told me that he thought I would one day make it into Wal-Mart management.
8. In late
June, 2000, after repeatedly asking Mr. McCoy to be promoted, I became a
Support Manager, which is an hourly, not salaried, position. After becoming a Support Manager, however,
Wal-Mart excluded me from daily store meetings and Wal-Mart management
personnel continued to give me the cold shoulder. When I again discussed my desire to be
promoted into a salaried Assistant Manager position with Mr. McCoy, he told me
that I would have to relocate. I
responded immediately that I would be willing to relocate, and Mr. McCoy said
he would “look into it.” Nothing ever
came of my request.
9. I recall
discussing my desire to become a salaried manager with Mr. Caputa in his office
in the fall of 2000, when I was a Support Manager. During this meeting, Mr. Caputa told me that
women were too emotional to be good managers.
I did not use Wal-Mart’s 1-800 complaint number because I observed that
when other employees used this number to complain, the Home Office would call
the District Manager, who would call the Store Manager, who would then
retaliate against the complaining employee.
I feared that if I used this complaint method, or utilized the Open Door
Policy, I would be subject to retaliation.
10. I
eventually became very discouraged that I would ever be promoted to a salaried
management position at Wal-Mart. I had
wanted to pursue a career with Wal-Mart, and had worked long and hard hours to
try to succeed in achieving my goal of reaching the salaried management
level. I had many times told my store
management, as well as the District and Regional Managers, of my goal of
reaching management and my desire to be placed into the Management Training
Program.
11. In my time
at Wal-Mart, I only saw two job vacancies posted. Mr. McCoy would usually hire whomever he
wanted. I observed that management only
approached men to inquire whether they were interested in becoming a member of
management, while women were never approached.
I felt that, because I was a woman, I could never advance to an
Assistant Manager position.
12. I excelled
at every job I held at Wal-Mart and poured my heart and soul into my work
there. I always received the highest
marks (“Exceeds Expectations”) on my Performance Appraisals.
13. I
observed males with less qualifications than me promoted by Wal-Mart into
salaried Assistant Manager positions. In
February, 2000, Jim Mohan, the District Manager, promoted Jorge Cobos, a male
Stocker from Wal-Mart’s Lafayette, Colorado store directly into the Assistant
Manager training program at the Longmont, Colorado store after less than seven
total months of employment at Wal-Mart.
Mr. Cobos completed the training program and became an Assistant Manager
at the Longmont store.
14. I was
crushed and extremely disappointed when I saw Wal-Mart promote Mr. Cobos to an
Assistant Manager job, despite the fact that I was more qualified than him and
had repeatedly made it known that I wanted to become an Assistant Manager. In December, 2000, I resigned from Wal-Mart
because I was so fed-up with the discriminatory atmosphere and lack of
promotional opportunities for me.
15. After I
resigned from Wal-Mart, the store promoted Dustin Turner, a twenty year-old
part-time male cashier, into an Assistant Manager position. When I worked as a Stocker in 1999, Mr.
Turner had been promoted on a fast track into a Support Manager position
despite being disciplined by Wal-Mart at least three times for having romantic
affairs with co-workers. I had
previously complained to Mr. Caputa about Mr. Turner’s unfair promotion, but
was told that Mr. Turner was “different.”
16. Wal-Mart
had been grooming Mr. Turner for a salaried management position. It was clear to me that, because I was a
woman, there was no room in Wal-Mart’s management for me. The fact that Wal-Mart promoted Mr. Turner to
an Assistant Manager position did not surprise me, as I assumed this would be
the outcome of Wal-Mart’s special treatment of him.
17. If given
the opportunity, I would like to return to Wal-Mart if and when the company
reforms its policies and practices to ensure a discrimination-free workplace.
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 Colorado that the foregoing is true and correct.
This Declaration was signed by me on
______________________, 2003, at _______________________, Colorado.
______________________________
Susan Hitch