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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, Amy Houchins-Post, declare:
1.
I have personal knowledge of the facts contained in
this declaration and, if called as a witness, am competent to testify to those
facts.
2.
I am a female and am 27 years old. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal
Justice. I am married and I have one
daughter.
3.
I was employed at a Wal-Mart store in Sioux City,
Iowa from April 2001 until I resigned in November 2002. I was hired as Security in Loss
Prevention. In April 2001, I was temporarily
assigned to the Lincoln, Iowa store to assist with security set-up. While at that store, a male co-manager, Shawn
(last name unknown) grabbed me from behind and proceeded to grind himself
against me. When I complained to the
Loss Prevention Supervisor, Cindy Bauer, about the harassment she told me that
it was just something that I would have to get used to since I was working in a
“man’s world.” While I was at that
store, Co-Manager Steve Casley also commented to me that I would make a “good
dominatrix.”
4.
In approximately 2002, after I had been transferred
back to the Sioux City Wal-Mart, I applied for the position of hourly support
manager. I had previously been told by
Store Manager James Hardy that experience in this position was required to get
into the management trainee program, which had been my goal from the outset of
my employment at Wal-Mart. Attached
hereto as Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of my In-Store Performance
Appraisal indicating my interest in advancement within Wal-Mart. I was interviewed by Assistant Manager Bruce
Schultz but the position was awarded to Chris Wykle, a male co-worker. Wykle had had several coachings and had drug
and alcohol problems. I had observed
that when Wykle did poorly in one department, he was simply moved to another
department. I was present at one of
Wykle’s coachings with Co-Manager Darrell Davis; one of my job responsibilities
was to sit in on employee coachings.
5.
Several days after my interview, I was standing
outside the UPC office and heard Co-Manager Darrell Davis state to someone on
the phone that he would not hire a “squatter” for the Support Manager
position. He then explained “someone who
squats to pee”, i.e. a woman. This made
me upset because just several days earlier at a store-wide meeting, Davis
stated that Wal-Mart does not tolerate sexual harassment or any type of
discrimination.
6.
In Summer 2002, I approached District Manager James
Conrad and expressed my interest in applying for a salaried manager position
that had been posted. He told me that I
would have to get permission from Store Manager Hardy. When I spoke with Hardy, he told me that I
did not have enough floor experience and experience in “Wal-Mart culture.” This made me mad because I was familiar with
Sam Walton’s philosophy, as well as company policies and was often the biggest
cheerleader for Wal-Mart. He offered me
a position in ISC (Inventory) and led me to believe that this position was
required to get the experience that I was supposedly lacking for a store
management job. This was very
frustrating to me because I had previously worked at a grocery chain where I
supervised 100 people. By taking the ISC position, my pay was cut from $10.82
hourly to $8.84 hourly. Attached hereto
as Exhibit B is a true and correct copy of my Associate’s Commendation form.
While this pay cut was very difficult for me to handle, I understood that the
sacrifice was necessary in order to achieve my goal of promotion to store
management. Soon after, I learned that
Daniel Porter, who held the same position in ISC as I did, was making $10.00
per hour. He had been hired after
me.
7.
Shortly after taking the ICS position, a group of
employees from the store were selected to enter the management training program
by Store Manager Hardy. I was not
selected, although I had repeatedly expressed interest in the position to store
management personnel. In fact, there
were no women in the group. When I asked Assistant Manager Terry Sadler why I
was not selected, he stated that it was because I was not doing a good job in
ISC. I had instituted some innovations
in the ISC Department to alleviate some of the problems the department faced
and, because I did not specifically seek permission to do so, I received a
coaching. This was surprising to me
because Wal-Mart’s management frequently talked about the importance of
encouraging associates to be independent and to take on problems
creatively. I understand now that this
was just talk.
8.
By November 2002, I realized that no matter what I
did in the store, or how much experience I gained, male store management would
not recommend me, nor allow me to enter the management training program. Therefore in November 2002, I decided to
resign from Wal-Mart. In my exit
interview, I stated that one of my reasons for leaving was lack of career
opportunities. Attached hereto as Exhibit
C is a true and correct copy of my Exit Interview form.
9.
I have personal knowledge of the facts contained in
this declaration and, if called as a witness, am competent to testify to those
facts. I declare under penalty of
perjury under the laws of the State of Iowa that the foregoing is true and
correct.
This
Declaration was signed by me on ______________________, 2003 in Sioux City,
Iowa.
_____________________________________
Amy Houchins-Post