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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, Jennifer Johnson, 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. Prior to being hired by Wal-Mart in 1986, I graduated high
school, completed two years of college, and worked for five years in a variety
of retail stores as a sales associate and cashier. I am a female.
3. I was initially hired by Wal-Mart as a cashier in the Ormond
Beach, FL store, but after a few months transferred to a sales associate
position. A few months later I
transferred to the camera/electronics department because I had previously
worked in the camera department for one of my previous employers.
4. During the course of my fifteen year career with Wal-Mart, I
was promoted to Department Manager, Support Manager, Assistant Manager and
ultimately Co-Manager. However, at each
level I had to wait much longer to be promoted than similarly qualified men, as
described below.
5. I worked in the Ormond Beach, Cooper City, St. Augustine,
Eustis, Palm Coast and Melbourne stores in Florida. In each store that I worked in, the policies
for compensation, promotion and other personnel matters were the same. I saw the written policies posted at each
store, and the substance was the same in each location I worked.
6. In 1988 or 1989 the Department Manager for
cameras/electronics in the Ormond Beach store, a woman named Terri, was
leaving, and told me that she had recommended me for the Department Manager
position. However, she also told me that
the store management had decided to give the job to a male employee, Keith, who
had been employed at Wal-Mart less time than me. After Keith died in an accident, I was then
promoted to Department Manager.
7. In approximately 1989 or 1990 they had promoted a male from Support
Manager to Assistant Manager. This left
the Support Manager position open. This position was not posted and I asked
Store Manager Guy Pshek to make me a Support Manager. The Support Manager job
is the highest level hourly position, and, based on my observation, working as
a Support Manager would increase my chances of being promoted to Assistant
Manager, which was my goal. I was denied
this promotion with the excuse that it was because I managed a department that
required me to be available for customer service. However, the position I sought was given to
Scott Schwalback, who also managed a department, small appliances, where the
manager had to be available for customer service. After Mr. Schwalback had been promoted, I
asked Mr. Pshek about the position again, pointing out that Mr. Schwalback had
been permitted to be a Support Manager while working in a service
department. I was finally promoted,
again later than I should have been and after similarly qualified men.
8. In 1991, Mr. Pshek was promoted to District Manager in a
different district. He told me that if I
was willing to relocate to a store in his district, that he would promote me to
Assistant Manager, a position that I had sought for some time. I agreed, although I knew that Scott Schwalback,
Mark Melatesta, and a male named Rick had been promoted to Assistant Manager
without having to switch districts. I
was transferred to the Eustis, Florida store as an hourly employee. I worked in that store as a Department
Manager for approximately five months without receiving the promotion to
Assistant Manager that Mr. Pshek had promised.
Finally, I spoke with Bob Hart, Regional Vice President, about the
situation, and he told me I had to wait another three to fourth months to be
promoted to Assistant Manager. I was
finally promoted in February 1992. Both
Scott Schwalback and Rick (a Department
Manager in Furniture) became Department Managers after I had, since I had
worked for Wal-Mart for longer, but they were both promoted to Assistant
Manager positions before I was. Thus, I
worked much longer as a Department Manager before being promoted to Assistant
Manager than similarly qualified men had.
9. When I was promoted to Assistant Manager I relocated to Ft.
Lauderdale, FL to work in store 1845 in
Cooper City, FL.
10. While I was an Assistant Manager I regularly asked Dan Erwin,
Store Manager, and later, Brad Bower, Store Manager after Mr. Erwin, about promotion to Co-Manager. Mr. Bower
referred me to Steve Leake, District
Manager .
11. In 1996 I was told by Anne Morrow, Co-Manager, that if I made
a lateral move within the store to the Assistant Manager responsible for the
front end, and was able to successfully resolve some problems there, that I
would be promoted to Co-Manager. I
agreed, and successfully fixed the problems, but was not promoted. Instead I was moved laterally through
softlines, store set ups, and then night manager.
12. I was told by District Manager Steve Leake that doing store
set ups, which meant working to set up a newly built store instead of working
in my regularly assigned store, would lead to a promotion to Co-Manager. When I completed the store set up, which
required that a commute of 100 miles round trip for six weeks, I asked Mr.
Leake about the promotion to Co-Manager.
Mr. Leake said he wanted to place me in a position on the District staff
instead. When I said that I really
wanted a Co-Manager position, not a lateral move to a staff job, Mr. Leake told
my Store Manager, who was also present during this conversation, to “do
whatever you want with her.” I was then
assigned to the night shift, which is the least popular. Although Co-Manager positions were not
posted, I heard, through word of mouth, of at least one vacancy for Co-Manager,
in the Port Orange store, during the time that I was seeking promotion to
Co-Manager. I was denied that position.
13. After nine months on the night shift, I spoke to Regional Vice
President Arthur Emmanuel in June 1998.
Mr. Emmanuel met with me, District Manager Leake and Store Manager Brad
Bower. Mr. Emmanuel asked Mr. Leake and
Mr. Bower if I was ready for promotion to Co-Manager, and they acknowledged
that I was. In July 1998 I was promoted
to Co-Manager in the St. Augustine store.
14. All Co-Managers are supposed to be paid the same base
salary. However, while I was a
co-manager in the St. Augustine store with a salary of $39,254.22. I learned that Mr. Greg Antl, a co-manager in
the same store, was being paid a few thousand dollars more.
15. Shortly after I was promoted to Co-Manager, one of the male
Assistant Managers who reported to me was disrespectful and avoided doing work
I assigned him. I spoke to my Store
Manager Kevin Robinson about it.
He told me that the man was upset that I had been promoted instead of
him, and said “you have two strikes against you: 1) you’re a woman; 2) you’re
black.”
16. While I was a Assistant Manager at the Cooper City, Fl, store
I recommended three people for promotion to Assistant Manager in training
positions, all during the same time period.
Two individuals I recommended were men, Clive Provost-Heron and Adrian,
and they were promoted immediately. The
third person I recommended for promotion was a woman, Pat, (I think her last
name was Jennings), and she was not promoted until a year later.
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
Florida that the foregoing is true and correct.
This Declaration was signed by me on March ____ 2003,
at Daytona Beach, Florida.
______________________________
Jennifer Johnson