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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 |
|
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)
581-8922 Facsimile: (415) 557-7895 |
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
I, Nancy Hom, declare:
1. I was an Assistant Manager for Sam’s Clubs
for 10 years, from 1991 until 2001. I am
female and live in Concord, California.
2. I had been employed in retail management for
nearly 20 years when I was hired by Wal-Mart, Inc. to be an Assistant Manager
at Sam’s Club. I was originally told
that I would be in management training
for several months, but after approximately two weeks of training with Sam’s
Club, I was made an Assistant Manager. I
remained as an Assistant Manager for the next 10 years and never received a promotion. I
never received any discipline. I
was never given any direction or guidance as to what I needed to do to become a
General (or Club) Manager.
3. My first assignment for Sam’s Club was in
Omaha, Nebraska, where I was an Assistant Manager. The Director of Operations, Bruce Redding,
told me that if I worked hard I would be promoted to General Manager. At one point, he spoke to me about
transferring to Las Vegas, Nevada, to show the women there that a woman could
be a manager. He never transferred me to
Las Vegas, and gave no explanation.
4. After about a year in Nebraska, I received a
telephone call from the People Division in the Home Office in Bentonville,
Arkansas, directing me to transfer to Yuba City, California with a week’s
notice. I understood when I was hired
that I had to be willing to move on short notice to any place requested by
Wal-Mart. I moved with my children from
Nebraska to Yuba City where I was an Assistant Manager for approximately one
year.
5. While at the Yuba City Club in 1993, I asked Director of Operations Marvin Moxley
to promote me to the position of General
Manager. He responded by asking with a
tone of sarcasm why I felt I could be a General Manager. I responded by asking him why he thought I
could not be one. He merely laughed in
response, and gave me no further information.
He did not appear to take my request seriously. At that time, I was not aware of any female
General Managers or female Directors of Operations within Sam’s Club. There was no application to complete to
express my interest in this position.
6. From Yuba City, I was transferred
to Oxnard, California to be an
Assistant Manager. Again, at the
request of Wal-Mart, Inc., I moved with my children to help open a new club.
7. After about a year in Oxnard, I transferred
to Concord, California in 1994 where I remained until I left in October
2001. I left my employment with Sam’s
Club because I was permanently disabled as a result of a workplace injury.
8. The policies and practices followed at each
of these Sam’s Clubs in Nebraska and California were the same. When I first began at Sam’s Club, there were
no handbooks or written guidelines for Sam’s Clubs. Instead, we used and relied upon the manual
and guidelines used at Wal-Mart Stores.
Eventually, a Sam’s Club manual was created. Each of the clubs I worked at had a manual in
the manager’s office which contained the policies and guidelines issued by the
Home Office in Bentonville, Arkansas.
When a new policy or guideline was issued, it was sent by the Home
Office with instructions to insert it in the notebook. The policies and guidelines in the notebook
included directives on personnel policies, including hiring and harassment, in
addition to sales, inventory and merchandise procedures.
9. When I began working at Sam’s Clubs, no job
positions were posted. Postings for
hourly positions at the Club level began in the late 1990s. However, even when we posted a job as open or
available to permit interested employees to sign up for consideration, I
observed that the General Managers frequently had already selected the person
for the position. I recall, for example,
General Manager Alan Oshier at the Concord Sam’s Club directed me to post
positions when he had already expressed to me his decision on who would be
given the job. In particular, I recall
that Mr. Oshier had already told me who he had selected as the new Check Out
Supervisor at the same time he was directing me to post the position as
available. Mr. Oshier also told me who
he had selected as Team Leaders, or hourly supervisors, at the time he was
directing me to post the positions.
10. Each day at Sam’s Clubs, we received reports
from the Home Office in Bentonville, Arkansas.
We received regular and frequent reports reflecting financial results
and goals, including sales and profits and merchandising information. Over the years, we received additional
reports. By the late 1990s, in addition
to the reports on sales and profits, we also received reports showing employee
turnover rates on a club basis. These
reports were modified over time, and later also showed the demographics of club
associates. This information was sent to
our club on a monthly basis. By
examining these “People Profit and Loss” reports, one could see what percentage
of associates at our club were female, and what percentage of club management
was female. Although we received these
reports monthly, I do not recall a single instance when any General Manager or
Director of Operations ever mentioned our club demographics or discussed this
report at all.
11. Each day we sent to Home Office reports
reflecting sales and inventory numbers.
In the early 1990s, we made and received these reports by telephone. By 2001, these reports were generally sent
through computer communications.
However, even when the reports became computer-generated, there were
still typically daily telephone calls with the Regional or Home Office.
12. As Assistant Manager, I participated in
hiring hourly employees upon occasion.
Neither the Yuba City club nor the Oxnard club had opened when I arrived
and so I helped interview many applicants.
The final hiring decisions were made by the General Managers. The pay rates were established by the Home
Office in Bentonville, Arkansas, but the General Manager at the Club had
discretion to pay more to any newly hired individual. I observed General Managers paying newly
hired male employees more than they paid newly hired female employees. For example, General Manager Alan Oshier paid
John Naslund approximately $15.00 an hour when he was hired in early 2001. I am unaware of any female employee receiving
a comparable rate when first hired.
13. In helping to open the Yuba City and the
Oxnard Sam’s Clubs, part of my responsibilities included ensuring the policies
and procedures established by the home office in Bentonville, Arkansas were
implemented at the club level. I did
this by discussing these Home Office directives with the hourly employees who
reported to me. In addition, when I
worked at the Concord club, I was responsible for training newly hired
employees and orientation. The materials
I used for new hire orientation came from Home Office.
14. In 1992, I received in the mail a copy of a
letter that was addressed to Helen Walton, the widow of founder Sam Walton, Rob
Walton, the founder’s son, Bud Walton, the brother of Sam Walton and a number
of top executives of the company. This
letter indicated that it was from eighty Assistant Managers, General Managers
and Directors and I understood that copies were being sent to store level
management across the country. The
letter was dated September 26, 1992. Attached to it was a second letter, dated
July 20, 1992, again addressed to the Waltons and to company executives. I received these letters at the club where I
worked in the usual course of business.
The envelopes were addressed to Managers and Assistant Managers. After reading and copying these letters, I
gave the originals to the General Manager of the Club. I took copies home with me and have kept them
at my home. True and correct copies of
these two letters are attached hereto as Hom Exhibits A and B
respectively. These letters stated,
among other things, that there was a pattern of discrimination against women at
Sam’s Clubs, and asked for the help and attention of the addressees. The letters also stated that they were
prepared on behalf of a large number of managers and highlighted other issues
of concern including a fear of retaliation for expressing these concerns. I do not know who wrote these letters, and I
was not asked to participate in drafting them.
No one in management asked me anything about these letters. I am unaware of any response to these
letters.
15. In 1993, I received another letter in the
mail at the club where I worked. This
letter was addressed to Sam’s Assistant Managers, General Managers, and
Directors of Operations. It stated that
it was from over 100 Sam’s Management Members.
After reading and copying this letter, I gave the original to my General
Manager and took a copy home with me, where I have kept it ever since. A true and correct copy is attached hereto as
Hom Exhibit C. This letter stated that women
were discriminated against, passed over for promotions, talked down to, and
black listed for using the Open Door. I
do not know who wrote this letter. I am
unaware of any response from Sam’s Club or Wal-Mart management as a result of
this letter. I was not asked anything
about this letter or about the claims asserted in it.
16. In 1993, I was severely injured in a
workplace accident. After I transferred
to the Concord, California club, I was demoted to an hourly employee. Several weeks after I complained in writing
to the Home Office in Bentonville, Arkansas, my title of “Assistant Manager”
was restored and I was given the position of “Export Manager.” However, my salary was decreased and
frozen. In addition, I no longer
received Geographical Assistance Pay (“GAP”), which is additional compensation
given to Assistant Managers and above to compensate for the increased local
costs of living, compared to the base salaries set in Bentonville,
Arkansas. GAP at the Concord club at
that time was approximately 30% of my annual salary. I protested many times to the Club and Regional
management and to the Home Office using the Open Door policy. I explained that Mr. Dave Columb, who had
been “Export Manager” before me, had received GAP. Eventually, my GAP pay was restored after a
delay of some months. However, I did not
receive GAP retroactively for the months in which I waited.
17. As a result of my use of the Open Door, I was
told by Regional Personnel Manager Rita
Seckington that “We would be watching”, and if I did not perform, I would “be
coached right out the front door”.
Director of Operations Phil Goodwin asked me if I realized what I had
done, getting the “big boys” involved. I
understood these comments to be threats of retaliation for my use of the Open
Door.
18. As an Assistant Manager at the Concord club,
I worked with and sometimes supervised Christine Kwapnoski, now a named
plaintiff in this action. During the
years 1994 through 2001, Ms. Kwapnoski often expressed to me her desire to
become a manager at Sam’s Club. I passed
on Ms. Kwapnoski’s wish for promotion to Directors of Operations Phil Goodwin,
and to the General Managers of the Concord club, including Alan Oshier, Mike
Bruegger, Ed Walker, Harley Lowe, and Chet Wayne. Ms. Kwapnoski worked in the receiving and
claims area with me. I found her to be
an excellent employee and suggested merit raises be awarded to her on more than
one occasion.
19. In spring of 2001, the Receiving Area Manager
position became vacant. I suggested Ms.
Kwapnoski be given the position, based on her experience, work ethic and her
potential. She had been qualified for
the position for several years, as she had been an excellent receiving and
claims area employee, and had been a Team Leader in another area of the club. Nevertheless, she had been repeatedly passed
over for this position. Director of
Operations Phil Goodwin asked me who I thought should be given the position,
and I suggested Ms. Kwapnoski. Mr.
Goodwin was adamantly opposed to giving this promotion to her, saying that she
had “people issues”. Mr. Goodwin was in
the Concord store a few times a month. I
worked with Ms. Kwapnoski daily and I believed she was qualified for the
position. Mr. Goodwin asked if I would
cover the Receiving Area Manager position until someone was selected for the
job. Shortly thereafter, approximately
two weeks after this litigation was filed, Ms. Kwapnoski was finally allowed to
be the Receiving Area Manager.
20. Although he blocked Ms. Kwapnoski from being
promoted due to unspecified “people issues”, Mr. Goodwin did not hold Store
Manager Alan Oshier to a similar standard.
Mr. Oshier lost his temper with Club associates on a very frequent
basis. His outbursts were loud, often
cruelly personal, and common knowledge among most of the employees at the
Club. Mr. Oshier told me that Mr.
Goodwin had instructed him to take an anger management course. Mr. Goodwin never expressed to me a belief
that Mr. Oshier had “people issues” or that he should not be in management
because of these outbursts.
21. In my experience, male managers that I worked
with over the years, including Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Oshier, had stereotypical
images of how women should behave. Ms.
Kwapnoski did not always fit this image.
22. Ms. Kwapnoski had previously been passed over
for numerous other positions, which I, as Assistant Manager, believed her to be
the most qualified. For example, Tyler
Whitney, Bryce Sherman, and Joshua Reynolds were all Area Managers long before
Ms. Kwapnoski was promoted to that position.
In my opinion, none of these men were any more qualified than
Ms.Kwapnoski, and none of them had the amount of seniority that Ms.Kwapnoski
did.
23. I observed more frequent and larger merit raises and larger annual raises given to men than to women repeatedly at Sam’s Clubs throughout my career. At the Concord Sam’s Club, General Manager Oshier often gave large raises to men. For example, I recall Ernie Tautalatasi receiving raises totaling approximately $2.00 an hour in 2000, his first year at the Concord Club. The following year, his raises increased his hourly rate by approximately $1.25 an hour. Henry Sargent was hired in approximately the fall of 2000. I recall that within months, he had been given raises totaling approximately $4.00 an hour. Women were not given raises with the same frequency or ease. For example, I was told by General Manager Mike Bruegger not to come back to him with a request for another raise for Christine Kwapnoski. Another female employee, Cassandra Iman, was not given raises consistent with her performance or in comparison with male associates.
24. I observed disparate treatment of men and
women engaged in prohibited personal relationships. For example, Assistant Manager Richard Putnam
at a store in the Sacramento area was accused of having an inappropriate
personal relationship with a female hourly employee. The female employee was terminated. Only when greater protest was lodged with the
Home Office by Mr. Putnam’s wife was Mr. Putnam disciplined. He was terminated but rehired three months
later in the same position. To my
knowledge, the female hourly employee was not rehired.
25. The workplace atmosphere at the Concord Sam’s
Club was one of hostility towards women in management. For example, when Director of Operations
Goodwin telephoned the Club and I answered, he frequently would ask to speak
with “a manager”. When I would remind
him that I was a manager, he would merely respond by asking me to have one of
“the guys” return his call. Assistant
Manager Richie King told me that the Region was run as a “good old boys’ club”
and added that he “was not
complaining”. The male managers
socialized together, to the exclusion of the female managers.
26. I have personal knowledge of each and every
fact set forth in this 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
California that the foregoing is true and correct.
This
Declaration was signed by me on April _______, 2003, at Concord, California.
__________________________________
Nancy
Hom