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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 KIM MCLAMB
IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION |
I,
Kim McLamb, 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. My maiden name is Kim Gary and I was
known by this name during the entire time that I was employed by Wal-Mart,
Inc. I am female.
3. I was employed by Wal-Mart from 1991 to
2001. I started at the Gloucester,
Virginia Wal-Mart store as a Department Manager, and I had several years of
previous retail and supervisory experience elsewhere. I was eventually promoted to Overnight
Assistant Manager at the Gloucester store in 1994. Later, between 1997 and 2001, I was an
Assistant Manager at four other Virginia store locations. I almost always received "exceeds
expectations" marks on my evaluations.
4. When I was hired in 1991, I started out
making about $6.00 per hour. Two other
newly-hired male Department Managers, Blake Fullen and Mike Sutherland, were
each making about $8.50 an hour. Mr.
Fullen told me how much he was making, and I discovered how much Mr. Sutherland
was making when I trained as a Personnel Manager and saw his payroll
records. As Mr. Fullen and Mr.
Sutherland were hired at approximately the same time that I was, and each of us
were
Department Managers, I know of no legitimate reason that Wal-Mart paid the men
more. More generally, during my
training as a Personnel Manager, I saw that men were usually making more than
women who were in the same jobs.
5. From the beginning of my employment
with Wal-Mart, I often spoke with my Store Managers about my interest in
being promoted. I spoke to the following Store Managers: Ken
Greggs, George Joiner, Wayne Radcliff, Jerry Rand and others. I also spoke to Darryl Gun and Chris Mehler,
who were my District Managers.
Eventually, I was promoted to Overnight Assistant Manager at the
Gloucester store in 1994, but only after agreeing, in writing, to work
overnights at that post for a full two-year period. I knew of no male Assistant Manager at that
store who was required to make the same written commitment. Each male Assistant Manager who worked at the
store only had to rotate through the overnight position on a six-month
basis.
6. In 2001, while I was working as an
Assistant Manager in Hardlines A & B at the Newport News, Virginia store, I
identified an opportunity to supervise the grocery area as an Assistant
Manager, which I understood was a necessary step I needed in order to get promoted to the Co-Manager position. .
The Grocery Assistant Manager
position was not posted, but I learned
of it because the current Grocery
Assistant Manager, Ed Hausmann, had been
promoted to Co-Manager at another store.
I told my Store Manager Wayne Radcliff and District Manager Chris Mehler
of my interest in the position, and they each told me that I would be given the
position. However, the position was
ultimately filled by Tommy (last name unknown), who had only recently been
promoted from a grocery stocker to Assistant Manager, and who had significantly
less experience than me. Tommy had only
been an Assistant Manager for three months while I had about six years
experience as an Assistant Manager. When
I complained to Mr. Mehler, he eventually moved me to grocery, but only after
Tommy had left the store after getting another promotion.
7. Several times throughout my career at Wal-Mart, I complained that women working in the same job as men made less than the men. On three such occasions in 1993, while I was the personnel manager, three different male assistant managers – Lee Earle, Adam Harbach, and Dee Taylor – each told me that the reason why men made more than women was that the men “had families to support.” No other response to my complaints were ever made.
8.
The Open Door policy did not work
for me and instead resulted in retaliation from my Store Manager. In April
2001, I and several other female Assistant Managers were working six
days a week getting ready for inventory.
At that same time, various male Assistant Managers were collectively
involved in preparing for a triathlon, along with my Store Manager at the time,
Wayne Radcliff. The men would bring
their bikes to the store, would often
leave the store early to train, and would rarely work the weekends. One Sunday, while a number of female Assistant Managers were in the store preparing for inventory, I
used the Open Door policy in order to express my concerns about the situation
to my District Manager, Chris Mehler.
Only two hours later, Mr. Radcliff showed up at the store, in bike
shorts, and angrily played back the message Mr. Mehler had left on his cell
phone regarding my call.. Mr. Radcliff
did not address the substance of my complaint, but instead yelled at me in
front of the other Assistant Managers, saying that I should not be worried
about inventory and that he “couldn’t believe” that I called our District
Manager to complain. He then left the
store without saying or doing anything else.
No other response to my complaint was ever made by either District
Manager Mehler or Store Manager Radcliff.
I realized after this incident that my complaints of gender
discrimination would not be taken seriously.
9. I was an Assistant Manager for a total of 7 years, and I was never offered a promotion to a Co-Manager or Store Manager position.
I
declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States and of the
State of Virginia, that the foregoing is true and correct. I signed this Declaration on April _____,
2003 in Yorktown, Virginia.
_____________________________
Kim
McLamb