|
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 |
|
SHEILA
Y. THOMAS (SBN 161403) 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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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 |
DEBRA
GARDNER PUBLIC
JUSTICE CENTER 500
East Lexington Street Baltimore,
MD 21202 Telephone: (410) 625-9409 Facsimile: (410) 625-9423 |
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SHAUNA
MARSHALL (SBN 90641) HASTINGS
COLLEGE OF THE LAW 200
McAllister Street San Francisco, CA 94102 Telephone: (415)
565-4685 Facsimile:
(415) 565-4854 Attorneys for Plaintiffs |
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
I, Phyllis Lehman, declare:
1. I am a 46 year old female from Liberty,
Missouri. I began working for Wal-Mart
in March of 1991 at store # 234 in Liberty, Missouri as an overnight
unloader. The entire time I worked at
Wal-Mart I let Wal-Mart know I wanted to move up the ladder into salaried
management, but Wal-Mart never gave me the chance to enter the Management
Training Program. Instead, Wal-Mart
placed a male with less experience than me in the Management Training Program.
2. Within the first few weeks of my
employment at Wal-Mart I spoke with either Store Manager Leroy Marvel or
Assistant Manager Dean Boyd regarding my interest in entering the Management
Training Program. I was told that in
order to be qualified for the program I had to first gain experience as a
department manager and as a support manager.
3. I then documented my interest in
promotion at Wal-Mart on my 90 day evaluation.
I wrote on my evaluation that I wanted to become department manager of
foods. See Phyllis Lehman’s 90-Day Evaluation, a true and correct copy
is attached hereto as Exhibit A. I chose
this position because I wanted to gain the department manager experience I was
told was necessary to reach the Management Training Program and because I knew
there was an opening for department manager in the food department.
4. My first annual performance evaluation
was completed on February 3, 1992. I was
rated as an “above standard” employee. I
reminded Wal-Mart that I had long term goals with the company and I stated on
my evaluation that, “I plan to excel with the Wal-Mart family.” See
Phyllis Lehman’s February 3, 1992 Associate Evaluation Form, a true and
correct copy hereto attached as Exhibit B.
5. In the fall of 1992 Wal-Mart promoted
me to department manager of food, which I considered a step closer to the
Management Training Program. Within
approximately six months of my promotion, I received a merit raise for
increasing sales in the food department.
6. I remained the department manager of
foods for approximately two and half years.
During that time, I talked to Assistant Manager Ben Abbott several times
about my desire to train for an assistant manger position. I even told him that I felt that if I had
been male, that I would have already been given the opportunity to enter the
Management Training Program. Mr. Abbott
typically told me to keep up my good performance so that I might be considered
for the Management Training Program. He
also frequently reminded me that I would have to relocate with my children in
order to enter the Management Training Program.
I told him that relocating did not deter me from pursuing a position in
the Management Training Program.
7. In January 1995, I received another
annual performance evaluation. Assistant
Manager Ben Abbott rated me as “above standard,” the highest rating
possible. I let Wal-Mart know that I
continued to be interested in gaining increased responsibility. I wrote on my performance evaluation that my
goals for the year included cross-training at the service desk and gaining an
opportunity to have department 3, the stationary department, added to my
duties. See Phyllis Lehman’s
January 31, 1995 Associate Self Evaluation, a true and correct copy hereto
attached as Exhibit C.
8. In late spring or early summer of 1995
I gave my two weeks notice to Wal-Mart because I felt that Wal-Mart was not
giving me the chance to advance beyond my current position as department
manager. I had been stuck in the
department manager position for two and half years despite my good performance
evaluations and my repeatedly expressed interest in promotion. Leroy Marvel, the store manager, and Ben
Abbott, an assistant manager, spoke with about my reasons for leaving. I told them again that I wanted to be an
assistant manager at Wal-Mart but I was going to leave because I had not been
given any opportunity to progress. They
told me they did not feel that I had enough experience yet to become an
assistant manager, but if I would stay, they would promote me to support
manager now, and advance me to assistant manager later. I agreed to those terms and in June 1995 I
was promoted to support manager.
9. I was evaluated in my support manager
position in January 1996. Once again, I
was rated as “above standard.” I was
still interested in taking on more responsibility so I wrote on this evaluation
that I was hoping that my support manager position would “lead to a position in
the assistant manager field.” See
Phyllis Lehman’s January 11, 1996 Associate Evaluation, a true and correct copy
hereto attached as Exhibit D.
10. In February 1996 I was wrongfully accused
of exhibiting inappropriate behavior in the workplace and I was reassigned to a
position as a day stocker. Once again
though, when I received my next annual performance evaluation, in February
1997, I was rated as “above standard.”
11. In the spring of 1997 I took a position
in Directs Receiving. Within three or four months I was promoted to the Lead
Associate of Directs Receiving.
12. I continued to speak to Mr. Marvel and
Mr. Abbott about moving into the Management Training Program. I also told the District Manager Jerome
Schneider that I wanted to enter the program.
The District Manager told me I would have to relocate if I entered the
program and that such a move would be difficult with children. He told me to go home and ask my kids if they
thought a move would be okay. I felt
like Mr. Schneider’s response to my interest was not sincere, but I did go home
and talk to my children. About a month
later I was finally able to track down Mr. Schneider again and I let him know
that my family was supportive of the move.
Again he responded that he thought the move would be hard on my
kids. But he said he would see what he
could do. I never heard from him again
about it. When I continued to approach
Mr. Schneider about getting into the program, he told me time and again that he
would get back to me, but he never did.
13. In February 1998, I was rated as
“outstanding” as Lead Associate in Directs Receiving, the absolute highest
evaluation an associate could get. I
also received a merit raise in August 1998.
I continued to excel in this position and in February 1999, was rated as
an “above standard” employee.
14. In July 2000, Fred Hack, a male associate
from my store was promoted into the Management Training Program. He had only worked at Wal-Mart for two years,
compared to my 8 ½ years with Wal-Mart.
Mr. Hack trained in a nearby store and was placed as an assistant
manager in a nearby store. Despite the
District Manager’s warnings to me that entering the Management Training Program
required relocation, Mr. Hack did not have to relocate when Wal-Mart placed him
in the program.
15. I was disappointed and frustrated when I
saw Mr. Hack’s easy track into the Management Training Program. I had experience in the highest position of
responsibility before crossing the line into salaried management, the support
manager position, and I had been a dedicated employee to Wal-Mart for 8 ½
years. I felt that I was more qualified
than Mr. Hack but I was kept out of the Management Training Program because
Wal-Mart preferred to have male assistant managers.
16. In November 2000, I was accused of
mishandling merchandise when in fact another associate had misplaced the
merchandise. Wal-Mart gave me a decision day.
I was very upset over the unfair treatment. I decided to end my employment with Wal-Mart
to pursue a different career opportunity.
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.
/
/
/
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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
_______________________.
______________________________
Phyllis
Lehman
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