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BRAD SELIGMAN (SBN 083838) 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 |
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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
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BETTY DUKES, PATRICIA
SURGESON, CLEO PAGE, CHRISTINE KWAPNOSKI, DEBORAH GUNTER, KAREN WILLIAMSON
AND EDITH ARANA, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiff, vs. WAL-MART
STORES, INC., Defendant
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Case No. C-01-2252 MJJ DECLARATION
OF VAN LE-KOHLER IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION |
I, Van
Le-Kohler, declare:
1. I
am female. I first started working at a
Wal-Mart store in Kissimmee, Florida, in June of 1998. I always had good evaluations and was never
disciplined at work.
2. I worked as a stocker on the third
shift for just about a month before my family suddenly had to relocate. I returned to Florida in 1999 and reapplied
at Wal-Mart. I was hired as a stocker
in girls’ wear in an Orlando Wal-Mart store in August 1999. Just a few weeks later, I received a
“promotion” to “supervisor” of stocking for all softlines. Ed Tomaselli, Co-Manager in charge of the
third shift, told me this was a promotion, and that he had chosen me because I
knew the job better than anyone else and knew how to direct others in the
job. However, neither my title (stocker)
nor my wage changed; I had seven departments to stock instead of one and was
responsible for training and supervising the other stockers and zoners in
softlines. I remained in that position
for about two years.
3. I applied for a Support Manager
position in the Fall of 2000 on the recommendations of Mary [last name
unknown], Department Manager in women’s clothing and Louise [last name
unknown], Department Manager in girls’ wear.
Mary told me she thought I was in a good position to get the job because
I was familiar with most of the relevant departments. I was interviewed by Ed Tomaselli and Larry
[last name unknown], Co-Managers. Mr.
Tomaselli denied my request for the promotion, saying that I was not a “people
person.”
4 I was stunned by this, because of what
he had told me when he “promoted” me to supervisor of the softlines stockers,
and because my supervisors had always indicated that my communication skills
and personal interaction skills were some of my major strengths. For example, on my Performance Appraisal
dated September 28, 1999, my supervisor, Toni Daniel, wrote: “Very outgoing personality. Ready to take on any situation. Very detail oriented. Works well with others. Great attitude—does whatever is asked with a
smile on her face.” See true and correct
copy attached hereto as Exhibit A.
5. A male employee, Kevin Holmes, was
promoted to the Support Manager position.
Mr. Holmes had worked at Wal-Mart for about the same amount of time as I
had and his only experience was stocking groceries. In my observation, he kept to himself on the
job and avoided interacting with customers.
6. On one occasion in early 2001, I was
present during an impromptu meeting in the break room involving several
associates and the Store Manager. A female
associate, Mary Tromboli, had caught another employee stealing and she and
several others were discussing this with Peter Schultz, Store Manager. Ms. Tromboli began raising other concerns,
including complaining that men were promoted over her. Mr. Schultz said to her, “You will never get
promoted because you are female.”
7. In the Spring of 2001, I needed to take
a medical leave of absence. Ed
Tomaselli, Co-Manager, John Sanchez, Co-Manager, and Peter Schultz, Store
Manager, all told me I would be able to return to the same job. I completed the necessary paperwork to be
able to return to my same job, but on the day shift. The paperwork was “lost” twice. When I returned after only two months, the
store managers told me that the job was not available after all and that I had
to take a cashier position. At least two
men in the store had been allowed to return to their jobs after medical
leaves. Joe [last name unknown], Front
End Manager, took a leave of absence for a couple of months and was permitted
to return to his job upon his return.
Hector Munoz, the top meat cutter, had been out on medical leave for
eight or nine months and was permitted to return to his job.
8. In 2001, shortly after I returned from
leave, I applied for a Support Manager position again. I was interviewed by Ed Tomaselli and Don
[last name known], Co-Managers. However,
a man, Eddie [last name unknown], with no supervisory or management experience,
got the position. He had been with
Wal-Mart only a few months as a stocker.
9. None of the managers who interviewed me
told me what I needed to do in order to get a promotion. I was given neither guidance nor support in
my efforts to advance my career or join the management ranks at Wal-Mart. I was aware of no other routes into a
management position. I was never
provided any information about management training, and there was never an
opportunity to apply for a management training position.
10. After a few months as cashier, during
which my hours were reduced, I quit. I was
very upset about being denied promotions, not getting my job back after my
leave, and the reduction in my hours.
11. I received no encouragement to make a
career at Wal-Mart. No manager gave me
any indication that I would be promoted or trained for a management position,
despite my repeated expressions of interest.
The Store Manager’s comment to my female co-worker led me to conclude
that women could not expect to receive fair opportunities for promotions, and
this conclusion was supported when I looked at the management in the
store. The Store Manager, the
Co-Managers, all but one of the Assistant Managers and all of the Support
Mangers were male. I saw that I could
not expect a fair chance at promotion at Wal-Mart.
12. In my experience, men at the Wal-Mart
store where I worked received higher starting wages and higher raises than
women. For example, Kevin Holmes started
around the same time that I did in mid-1999 at the Orlando store, and he told
me he was making $.50 an hour more than me.
My husband, Steve Kohler, started shortly after I did, and his starting
wage was $8.00 an hour as a meat cutter, despite the fact that he had no
experience in that job. I had started at
$7.00 an hour and was still receiving that wage when my husband was hired at
$8.00 an hour.
13. 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 State of
Florida that the foregoing is true and correct.
This
Declaration was signed by me on ______________________, 2003, at
_______________________.
______________________________