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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,
Darlene Leadingham, declare:
1. I am a 56 year old female and live in Lubbock, Texas.
2. During
my employment at Wal-Mart, Inc’s Sam’s Club Division, I encountered
discrimination based upon my gender with regard to compensation, promotions,
failure to accommodate my medical condition and sexual harassment.
3. I
worked at the Odessa, Texas Sam’s Club from July 26, 1993 until March 22,
2002. My first job at Sam’s Club was as
a part-time cashier, where I made $6.00 an hour. During my nearly nine years of service with
Sam’s Club, I worked in demos, member services, refunds, comparison shopper,
fax and pool backup, marketing backup, shelf maintenance, tire mounting and as
a people greeter.
4. My
ending hourly wage was $9.10 per hour.
This reflects the modest standard increase in wages that resulted from
my periodic evaluations and performance reviews, which always averaged at least
a “three” on a scale of one to five. At
no time during my career with Sam’s Club did I ever receive a merit raise, even
though I repeatedly requested such raises.
5. I
am aware that many male employees with identical or comparable experience at
Sam’s Club received merit raises or annual raises that exceeded $.50 per hour
during the time I worked there, including those described below. I know that Eduardo Ramirez, who worked in
maintenance cleaning floors, received approximately a $.70 per hour raise in
1998. This directly contradicts what
Curtis Gullett, the General Manager, and Juan Jimenez, the Assistant
Merchandising Manager, told me in a meeting in October or November, 2001, when
they said that the largest raise they could give anyone was $.50 per hour. I also know that Dustin Hatfield, Marcus
Pacheco and Macario Tobar have received annual raises between the years 1999
and 2002 that exceeded the standard annual raises that I received.
6. I
have also been discriminated against in being denied promotions to management
positions while other male employees with comparable Sam’s Club experience were
promoted around me. I made it known to
Sam’s Club management very early in my Sam’s Club career that my long-term goal
was to become a manager. See
Evaluation Summary dated 10/24/93 and identified as WMHO 913499, a true and
correct copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 1.
7. In
approximately August, 1995, I complained about the pay inequalities to Chris
Cecchine, the General Manager at the time, after I received my annual
evaluation in July, 1995. But, as usual,
Mr. Cecchine and Sam’s Club did nothing to respond to my complaints.
8. Over
the years, I applied for several team leader positions, but was never
selected. These positions were usually
posted and I contacted the manager in charge of the department where the
vacancy occurred. Meanwhile, when I
applied and interviewed for the Marketing Team Leader position in the fall of
1999, Danny Castro, a male, was given the job even though he had no marketing
or customer service experience. My
co-workers also submitted my name for Checkout Supervisor (“COS”) openings approximately
six times, but I was never selected.
Four out of these six times Sam’s Club selected a man for the job. In approximately 1999, I personally applied
for a COS vacancy that was posted on the wall at the store. I informed Connie Martin, the Front End
Manager, that I wanted to be considered for the COS position, but I was never
interviewed for the job and did not receive the promotion. I was never given a promotion at Sam’s Club.
9. In
the year 2000 or after, I also know that Brent Ward, who was a male employee
working in tire mounting, made a higher hourly wage than I did when I was a
comparison shopper, for doing comparable work.
Eduardo Ramirez, Maintenance worker, and Mike Byrd, a Sales Associate,
Merchandiser and Greeter, both male employees, also made higher hourly wages
than me for doing comparable work from at least 1999 through 2002.
10. In
approximately September or October, 2001, I approached Mr. Gullett to request a
merit raise. I had received a rating of
15 out of a possible 16 on my June, 2001, Performance Evaluation, and felt that
I deserved a merit raise for the hard work I did for Wal-Mart. Mr. Gullett said that he never gave merit
raises because he would get accused of bias, and then told me to discuss the
matter with Mr. Jimenez. When I spoke to
Mr. Jimenez about my request, he refused to give me a raise, stating that he
thought I was a poor employee. Mr.
Jimenez’s comments that I was a poor employee, however, were belied by the
excellent rating he gave me on my June, 2001 Performance Evaluation.
11. Eventually,
Mr. Gullett, Mr. Jimenez and I had a meeting together to discuss my raise
request, but I never received the merit raise I sought. In this meeting, Mr. Gullett appeared to
agree with my position that I deserved a raise, but he failed to authorize any
change in my hourly wage.
12. In
approximately July, 2001, I was also subjected to discrimination in the failure
of management to provide me with suitable accommodation for a medical condition
I had. I had been ordered in writing by
my doctor to restrict my lifting due to my heart condition. But when I brought this subject up with Mr.
Jimenez, he told me that I could take unpaid personal leave if I could not do
the heavy lifting, and refused to accommodate my condition. I know, however, that Mr. Jimenez had
previously given an accommodation to a male employee, Mike Byrd, who had a bad
back.
13. I
have also been sexually harassed by a fellow Sam’s Club employee. Edward Garcia, a co-worker, made offensive
remarks to me about my sex life. I
complained about this sexual harassment to management during general club and
grass roots meetings, but management failed to promptly address my
complaints. Mr. Garcia’s penchant for
making inappropriate sexual remarks to female employees was a frequent topic at
the general club and grass roots meetings.
I understood that Mr. Garcia had 32 complaints made against him at
Wal–Mart for sexual harassment.
14. In
March, 2002, Sam’s Club terminated my employment due to a misunderstanding over
my purchase of a marked-down item. My
termination was not justified, and I feel that Wal-Mart treated me unfairly in
terminating my employment.
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 Texas that the foregoing is true
and correct.
This Declaration was signed by me on
______________________, 2003, at _______________________, Texas.
______________________________
Darlene Leadingham