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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, Michella Minton, declare:
1. I am a 36-year-old
female living in Fuquay Varina, North Carolina.
I worked at four Wal-Mart stores in Cary, North Carolina, Raleigh, North
Carolina, Palatka, Florida, and St. Augustine, Florida, from October 3, 1995,
until I resigned from employment on April 2, 2001.
2. I have
been subjected to gender discrimination by Wal-Mart with regard to compensation and work assignments.
3. I started
working at the Wal-Mart store in Cary, North Carolina in 1995. I worked as a Pharmacy Technician for
approximately two-and-a-half years, with a brief two month assignment at the
Raleigh, North Carolina, store in 1996.
I then became the Personnel Manager until March, 1999.
4. In March,
1999, I transferred to Wal-Mart’s Palatka, Florida, store as a Personnel
Manager. After approximately four
months, I was then assigned to be a Support Manager. I had sought the Support Manager position,
and wanted to progress professionally at Wal-Mart. During the years previous to my employment at
Wal-Mart, I had gained extensive retail managerial experience in Store Manager
positions at Revco and at a clothing store, and I wanted to pursue management
positions at Wal-Mart. Accordingly, I
had told my Store Managers and District Managers on numerous occasions that I
desired to be promoted to an Assistant Manager position, and noted in the
“Comment” section of my May 26, 1999 Evaluation that I wanted to enter the
Management Training Program. I always
received at least an “Above Standard” rating on my Wal-Mart Performance
Appraisals and on at least two occasions received “Outstanding” ratings, the
highest rating possible.
5. In May,
2000, I received a promotion to be an Assistant Manager at the St. Augustine,
Florida, store. Although I was initially
very excited to receive this promotion, soon after I transferred to the St.
Augustine, Florida, store I began to experience gender discrimination.
6. My
starting salary as Assistant Manager at the St. Augustine, Florida, store was
approximately $29,500.00 per year. I am
aware, however, that Judah Smith, a male with less managerial experience than
me who started at an Assistant Manager position at approximately the same time
as me at the Palatka, Florida, store, was paid a higher salary than me in
2001. I am also aware that male
Assistant Managers with managerial experience comparable to mine at the
Palatka, Florida, store (Nelson Alvarez, Tod Hunt and Colin Moore) and at the
St. Augustine, Florida, store (Phil Joseph) made higher salaries than me for
performing the same job duties. When I
realized that these male colleagues made a higher salary than me for doing the
same work, I became upset and angry that Wal-Mart treated me unfairly just
because I was a woman. I used the Open
Door Policy to complain to Ralph Kershaw, the District Manager, concerning
gender-based pay disparities, but Mr. Kershaw ignored my complaints.
7. During my
time as an Assistant Manager at the St. Augustine store, my Store Manager was
Walter Lott. Mr. Lott was a
gender-biased manager. Mr. Lott treated
me and the other two female Assistant Managers much more poorly than the male
Assistant Managers in the store. Mr.
Lott frequently humiliated me and the other female Assistant Managers in the
presence of customers by yelling at us that we could not do our jobs properly,
but he rarely displayed this type of behavior toward male Assistant
Managers. Mr. Lott also assigned me and
the other female Assistant Managers to supervise departments such as cosmetics
or softlines rather than high profile departments like Lawn and Garden, which
were supervised by male Assistant Managers.
Accordingly, because I did not supervise a high profile department, I
was unable to realize my potential as a manager and show Wal-Mart what I could
do in order to progress professionally.
I was not receiving the training in all the departments that is
necessary for promotion to a Store Manager position. I felt that Mr. Lott was discriminating in
determining our assignments, and holding me and the other two female Assistant
Managers back from success and further promotional opportunities. I again used the Open Door Policy to speak
with Mr. Kershaw, the District Manager, about the way Mr. Lott treated me, but
Mr. Kershaw failed to respond to my complaints.
8. Mr.
Lott’s verbal attacks and abrasive demeanor toward me took its toll on my
health. In November, 2000, the effect of
Mr. Lott’s hostile behavior toward me caused me to take a medical leave of
absence from my job when my doctor diagnosed that I suffered from severe
work-induced anxiety and depression.
9. By
February, 2001, my health had improved and I was interested in returning to
work at Wal-Mart, but not at the St. Augustine, Florida, store. I spoke to a Florida District Manager, Bert
[last name unknown], regarding my ability to return to a Wal-Mart store as an
Assistant Manager. I explained to him
that I desired to relocate to a store in North Carolina rather than work at the
St. Augustine store for Mr. Lott, the Store Manager who was the primary source
of my previous anxiety and depression.
The Florida District Manager, however, informed me that I would have to
return as an Assistant Manager at the St. Augustine store. I used the Open Door Policy to appeal to Rudy
Eckerman, the Regional Personnel Manager, but when I explained my situation to
him in numerous phone calls, he was evasive and did nothing to respond to my
concerns. Even though my medical leave
ended in March, 2001, the company did not assign me to a store. As I could see no reasonable employment
options for myself at Wal-Mart, I resigned in early April, 2001.
10. I would be
very interested in working for Wal-Mart again in the future, if Wal-Mart could
promise me that my workplace would be free of gender discrimination and that I
would be provided fair opportunities for professional advancement.
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 North Carolina that the foregoing is true and
correct.
This Declaration was signed by me on
______________________, 2003, at _______________________, North Carolina.
______________________________
Michella Minton