|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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, Alix McKenna, declare:
1. I am a
45-year-old female living in Lawrence, Kansas.
I worked at three Wal-Mart stores during the following time
periods: Manhattan, Kansas, store from
April, 1996, until June, 1996; Bonner Springs, Kansas, store from March, 1998,
to September, 1998; and Lawrence, Kansas, store from September, 1998, to March,
1999, and from August, 1999, to December 31, 2002.
2. I have
been subjected to gender discrimination by Wal-Mart with regard to compensation, promotions and work
assignments.
3. During my Wal-Mart career, I almost
always received “Exceeds Expectations” ratings on my Performance Appraisals,
but was never promoted to a level higher than a Department Manager position.
4. In
August, 1999, I worked as a Sales Associate in the Sporting Goods Department at
Wal-Mart’s Lawrence, Kansas, store. In
approximately October or November, 1999, the Sporting Goods Department Manager,
Sal Cugno, transferred departments, which left a vacancy for this position. I applied for this position and was
interviewed by Dean [last name unknown], a male Assistant Manager. On the same day that my interview took place,
Dean informed me that Brian Garrett, a male Lawn and Garden Sales Associate
with less seniority than me and no sporting goods or managerial experience,
received the Sporting Goods Department Manager job. I complained to Dean that I was more
qualified for the position, but he just said: “You don’t want to work with
guns.” When I explained to Dean that I
had been selling and handling guns for the past two months as an Associate in
Sporting Goods and had no problem working with them, Dean had no response.
5. As a
testament to my superior qualifications for the Sporting Goods Department
Manager position, I trained Mr. Garrett in his new position for approximately
two months. After training Mr. Garrett
in the job, Mr. Garrett admitted to me that during his 90-Day Evaluation,
Wal-Mart told him that he had been selected to be promoted into Support Manager
and then Assistant Manager positions, but that he needed to be a Department Manager
first.
6. In late
1999, I became the Pets Department Manager.
I accepted the assignment and received a raise of $.50 per hour. I know that this $.50 per hour raise was much
lower than the raise received by Dennis Lowe, a male, when he was promoted to
this same position (as my successor) when I transferred positions. Mr. Lowe confided in me that he received a
$1.00 per hour raise when he was promoted from a Sales Associate position in
the Sporting Goods Department to the Pets Department Manager. This was the identical job path that I had
taken, yet I only received half the raise that Mr. Lowe received.
7. When I
assumed responsibility as the Pets Department Manager, the department staff was
severely cut and I did not have any assistants to help me, thus making my job
very difficult and stressful. I feel
that this was discriminatory treatment because the two previous male Pets
Department Managers both had sufficient staff and assistants to help them. It was not until I became the Pets Department
Manager that staff and assistants were cut.
I complained about having no assistants to Dean, the Assistant Manager,
John Mercer, the Store Manager, and Tom Cundy, the District Manager, but all of
these men ignored my complaints.
8. In
approximately April, 2000, I transferred jobs to become a Claims Associate,
which Richard Chappelle, the Store Manager, considered a “lateral move.” Accordingly, Mr. Chappelle refused to give me
a raise. However, Mr. Lowe (the male who
succeeded me as Pets Department Manager) told me that when he made a “lateral”
move from Pets Department Manager to the Hardware Department Manager, he
received another $1.25 per hour raise. I
now see how unfair and gender-biased Wal-Mart’s compensation system is when I
compare myself directly with Mr. Lowe, who received much higher raises than I
did for making comparable job changes.
9. Another
male Wal-Mart employee, Jason Culver, a Sporting Goods Department Manager (a
job that was comparable to my Claims Associate position), told me that he made
a higher hourly wage than I did for doing comparable work.
10. When I was
assigned to become an Instock Guarantor I only received a raise of $.50 per
hour. I complained to Mr. Chappelle, the
Store Manager, that I should receive a higher raise, but he responded that the
highest raise he could provide me was $.50 per hour. I later learned from Connie Underwood, the
Personnel Manager, that Mr. Chappelle had previously authorized raises higher
than $.50 per hour for this position, including a raise for Dennis Lowe, a
male.
11. I have
utilized the Open Door Policy on numerous occasions, including sending e-mail
communications to Lee Scott, Wal-Mart CEO,
in August, 2000, and February, 2001, in which I and Dedra Farmer, a
former fellow female Wal-Mart employee, addressed our concerns that women were
not provided equal pay at Wal-Mart.
During my employment at Wal-Mart, the company did not adequately respond
to the gender-based pay issues raised by Ms. Farmer and me.
12. Wal-Mart
terminated my employment on December 31, 2002.
Wal-Mart justified my termination by wrongfully concluding that I was
guilty of “time theft,” claiming that I took too many breaks during my shifts
or that the breaks I took were too lengthy.
Wal-Mart never provided me with a warning concerning the purported
infraction. I used the Open Door Policy
and appealed my termination to the Home Office, which investigated the
situation and upheld the termination but stated that I was terminated for clocking
in early, not for “time theft.” I
believe that Wal-Mart’s stated reasons for terminating me are without basis,
and that the true reason Wal-Mart
terminated me was in retaliation for both my history of complaints about
sexual discrimination at Wal-Mart, including my participation as a class member
in this lawsuit, and my support during the 2002 holiday season of a fellow
female Wal-Mart employee’s sexual harassment complaint against Wal-Mart.
13. If
Wal-Mart reformed their discriminatory practices, I would consider returning to
work at Wal-Mart.
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 Kansas that the foregoing is true and
correct.
This Declaration was signed by me on
______________________, 2003, at _______________________, Kansas.
______________________________
Alix McKenna