|
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 CHARLES
TOMPKINS JULIE
GOLDSMITH 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)
565-4685 Facsimile: (415) 565-4854 |
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
I, Martha Kettle, 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. I was employed by Wal-Mart, Inc. in Newhall, California from October 1997 through April 2000. I am female.
3.
I owned and operated my own businesses before working for
Wal-Mart. I ran a toy store for six
years and a pre school for fourteen years.
I applied for a position at Wal-Mart to supplement my income from my
preschool business. At the time, I was
going through a divorce and needed extra income to care for my twelve-year-old
son. I went to Wal-Mart to see if there
were any job openings and Personnel Manager Marina Bruns told me that the only
openings were temporary cashier positions.
I took a temporary cashier position because Personnel Manager Burns told
me that if my performance was good after 90 days, Wal-Mart would hire me
permanently and at that time I could negotiate a higher salary.
4. The cashier position paid only $5.65 per hour but I was expecting to earn much more when I became a permanent employee. In December 1997, Customer Service Manager Lori Newman asked me if I was interested in a Customer Service Manager position. The position was never posted, and I was not asked to apply for it. I accepted the Customer Service Manager position in January 1998 and was given a 25 cent per hour pay raise which increased my salary from $5.93 to $6.18 per hour. When I left Wal-Mart in April 2000, two years later, I was still only making $7.75 per hour.
5. During the two and one half years that I worked at the Newhall store, I observed very little opportunity for advancement for women. I never saw a posting for open Department Manager or Support Manager positions. Only a few women in the store rose to a position higher than Support Manager. Most of the employees in store management were men. There was only one female co-manager, Lani Abbott. A woman never held the Store Manager position while I worked there.
6. I also observed that men who performed the same work I did were paid better wages than I was. Gerald Stallworth, a cashier who was hired in 1999, was promoted to Customer Service Manager in 2000. He told me that his salary as a customer service manager was $8.11 per hour, this is 37% more than I made when I was promoted to Customer Service Manager. Gerald Stallworth told me that he became Customer Service Manager when Co-Manager Jerrald Simpson offered him the position. The position was never posted. Howard Staszower, who was hired as a customer service manager in November 1999, showed me his pay stub and his hourly rate was $9, 52% more than I made when I was promoted to Customer Service Manager. I felt that I was more experienced than Customer Service Manager Staszower because I owned a business for over fourteen years and he had owned his business for only four years. This made me think that my pay rate was not based on my prior work experience, but that I was being paid less than my male co-workers because I am a woman.
7. The male managers at the Newhall store tolerated conduct that I found offensive. Co-Manager Simpson and Store Manager Cimo had statues of persons engaged in sexual acts on their desks. These statues were very offensive to me and I believed that they were inappropriate. In June 2000, I called the 1-800 Wal-Mart number to complain about the statues. I waited until I was no longer employed by Wal-Mart to complain because I was afraid of losing my job. I talked to Regional Manager Jonathan Sims and his assistant. My understanding from others who continued to work at the Newhall store was that minor changes were made after my call. In August 2000, the Store Manager’s office was moved to a different location within the store. Store Manager Cimo was transferred to another Wal-Mart store.
8. I left Wal-Mart in April 2000 because of the offensive environment and to find a better paying supplemental job.
9. In September 2000, my former Wal-Mart supervisor, Debbie Eastman, called to ask if I would be interested in working for Wal-Mart part time during the Christmas season. I decided to return to Wal-Mart for that short period. In approximately October 2000, I filled out an application for a Customer Service Manager position. That month I called the store repeatedly to find out when I would be interviewed for the position. One night I was shopping in the Newhall store and Ms. Eastman was working. I told her that my calls to the store were not being returned. Ms. Eastman told me that the Newhall store was short staffed because no one was applying for the open Customer Service Manager position. Ms. Eastman and I walked to the back of the store where she showed me the posting for the Customer Service Manager position. Ms. Eastman introduced me to Store Manager Thomas Lorenzen and told him that she wanted me to come back as a customer service manager. Store Manager Lorenzen told me that the position was open, that he would ask Personnel Manager Elizabeth Chavez to retrieve my application, and he would contact me by the end of the week. Store Manager Lorenzen never called me. I continued to call the store and could never reach Store Manager Lorenzen or Personnel Manager Chavez.
10. I called the Home Office and spoke with the Regional Personnel Manager. The Regional Personnel Manager told me, after looking at my record, that he found no reason that I should not be rehired. He said he would call the Personnel Manager and tell her to rehire me. Despite the Regional Personnel Manager’s efforts, I was never interviewed for the open Customer Service Manager position. In November 2000, I called the Newhall store and Personnel Manager Chavez told me that all positions were filled. I did not believe that the positions were filled because I had seen the job posting for the Customer Service Manager position and Ms. Eastman told me that no one was applying for the position. In addition, Newhall Store Management refused to return my calls even after the Regional Personnel Manager informed me that he would recommend my rehire. Because of this, I felt that I was not being considered for the Customer Service Manager position in retaliation for having used the 1-800 number.
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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 _______________________.
______________________________
S:\SHARE\LEGAL\Walmart\Declarations\Martha Kettle
declaration.doc