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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 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
I, CLEO PAGE, 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.
I am a 34 year old African American woman and I currently work as a
teacher for a disabled student in Sappala, Oklahoma. I have held this position since August 2001.
3.
I was hired at the Tulsa, Oklahoma Supercenter in July 1997 and worked
there until July 1998. When I applied to
work at Wal-Mart in the summer 1997, I had prior retail experience working in
several retail stores including Foley's, Lane Bryant and T.J. Max over a period
of several years. Despite my prior retail work experience, I was placed as a
cashier and stayed in that position throughout the entire period that I worked
at the store. I observed that women
mostly worked as cashiers and in departments that included clothes and
lingerie, while men staffed the automotive, meat and produce departments. I was not given the opportunity to expand my
knowledge of the various departments in the Tulsa store.
4.
In approximately June or July 1998, I made the decision to move to
California. I attempted to transfer from
the Tulsa store to a store in California.
I contacted the store manager Wes Morris, who informed me that I was not
eligible for transfer because of information concerning written coachings in my
personnel file. Wal-Mart denied my
request so I resigned my employment at the Tulsa store in July 1998. I applied for a position at a Wal-Mart store
in Union City, California, in August 1998 and was hired to work in the return
center accepting returned merchandise.
When I began working at the Union City store, I observed that the store
operated the same as the Tulsa store except that there had been a larger food
section in Tulsa because it was a supercenter.
The application process and orientation at the Union City store were
similar to what I had experienced at the Tulsa store.
5.
Within weeks of my hire at the Union City store #2031, I found a place
to live in Livermore, California that required me to commute 30 to 40 minutes
each day one way. I requested and
received a transfer to the Wal-Mart store in Livermore, California in October
1998 where Monique Taylor was store manager.
When I transferred to her store, Monique Taylor told me that if I had
come to her store initially, she would have arranged to transfer me from Tulsa
to her store. Monique Taylor's statement
made it clear to me that exceptions could be made to any Wal-Mart policy or
procedure as long as someone in management took the steps to do so. However, I
discovered that such exceptions were made only for those who management favored
and wanted to see advance within the company.
6.
My first position in the Livermore store was at the return desk where I
worked for one to two months. In
December 1998, I applied for and was promoted to Customer Service Manager
("CSM"). As a customer service
manager, I was responsible for supervising employees and overseeing the
operations of the front end of the store.
I worked as a customer service manager until approximately November
1999. During that time, the cashiers and
accounting employees voted me the best customer service manager in the
store. I performed well in the position
and my colleagues recognized and acknowledged me for it. I received an above standard evaluation for
the year.
7.
While I was a CSM, I applied for a support manager position between
December 1998 and November 1999. A support manager assists assistant managers
in managing different areas of the store.
The position provides associates with the opportunity to get experience
in all parts of the store and prepares an employee to perform the duties of an
assistant manager. For these reasons,
support manager is a stepping stone to promotion to the assistant manager in
training program. Because I wanted to be
selected for the assistant manager in training program, I expressed interest in
promotion to Monique Taylor to support manager and applied for an available
position. However, a less qualified male CSM Jason Luna was promoted to the
position despite my above standard rating and recognition as the best customer
service manager in the store.
8.
After I was denied the position of support manager, I continued to
express interest in promotion and eventually was selected for promotion to
department manager of the Mens’ Wear Department in November 1999. Shortly after I was promoted to Mens’ Wear
department manager, Store Manager Taylor informed me that I had to transfer to
the Boys Department because of a requirement that new department managers start
with a smaller department. It seemed odd to me that Store Manager Taylor was
unaware of this requirement when she selected me for the Mens’ Wear position in
the first place. I had never heard of
this requirement before nor did I find it in writing on the Pipeline or
elsewhere. I transferred to the Boys Department and remained in the position
until I resigned in November 2000.
9.
Throughout the remainder of my time at Wal-Mart, I expressed interest
in promotion to the support manager position and to the assistant manager
training program to store managers Monique Taylor and then to Hahn Seraypheap,
who replaced Ms. Taylor in early 2000.
When I spoke to Store Manager Taylor specifically about a promotion to
assistant manager training, she informed me that if I wore blouses and tops
with collar, I would be a good candidate for promotion. However, I was never selected for the
assistant manager training program while she was store manager although my
evaluations reflected that I dressed appropriately. I applied for another support manager
position between January and November 2000 while I was department manager in
the Boys Department. After the selection
was made, I spoke to Store Manager Seraypheap about why I had not been selected
for the support manager job or for the assistant manager program. She told me that she wanted me to work in a
bigger department before I was promoted to support manager because, if I could
run a large department, I could run the store effectively. However, Ms.
Seraypheap never provided me with the opportunity to manage a larger department
so that I could get the experience that she told me I needed.
10.
While I was at the Livermore Wal-Mart store I observed, as I had in the
Tulsa Supercenter, that there were certain departments where men were selected
to manage as department managers. I
specifically recall that men were assigned to work in the automotive and
sporting goods departments. At a meeting
in late 1999 or early 2000, in which I was present with other department managers,
Store Manager Seraypheap stated that she was going to give an available
sporting goods department manager position that was posted to a man because she
“needed a man in the job."I did not apply for the position because I
understood that the store manager had already made up her mind about the gender
of the successful applicant. True to her word, Store Manager Seraypheap
promoted a male associate, Curtis Koonce, who had been hired a year after I was
in the Livermore store and who had been employed by Wal-Mart for only a few
months, to the department manager of sporting goods. The sporting goods department is a large
department in the store and I would have been interested in the job because it
would have given me the experience that I had been told I needed to be promoted
to support manager or assistant manager trainee.
11.
I also learned that Curtis Koonce earned a higher salary than I did
although I had been with the company longer and had been in various supervisory
positions.
12.
In October 2000, I received a written coaching from the store manager,
and assistant manager Matt Mayland after I left shopping carts along the wall
of my department. I was surprised by the
coaching because I had seen Ms. Seraypheap the day before. She had seen the baskets and never indicated
that there was a problem. During my
employment at Wal-Mart, I observed that other departments had not only left
baskets but also unsightly trash and I am unaware of anyone being written up in
the same manner. I was also aware that
the written coaching was not in compliance with Wal-Mart policy, which requires
a verbal coaching prior to a written coaching.
This had been my first coaching in the Livermore store.
13.
After I received the coaching, it became clear to me that, despite my
repeated expressed interest in promotion and the efforts that I had made to
improve my chances for promotion, I was not going to be promoted to support
manager or assistant manager trainee.
The store manager was making no effort to ensure that I was getting the
experience that she said I needed to move up in the company. I was particularly frustrated after I was
denied two support manager positions, as discussed above, that I was qualified
to fill. It was also discouraging to observe that a less qualified man could be
promoted to a larger department and earn more money than I although I had
worked well as a customer service manager and department manager and was
qualified for advancement to management.
It became clear to me based on my experiences that I would never be
promoted to support manager or assistant manager trainee.
14.
As a result of the coaching and my frustration and disappointment after
I was denied promotions to support manager and assistant manager trainee, I
resigned from Wal-Mart in November 2000.
15.
I decided to become a named plaintiff in this action because I was
denied promotions to management positions I was qualified to fill and was paid
a lower salary than less qualified men despite my qualifications. I also
observed how women were assigned to departments that were less likely to lead
to promotion while men were promoted to departments that were larger and
provided them with greater opportunities for advancement within the
company. My primary goal is to make sure
that Wal-Mart can no longer stop the progress of women who want to be promoted
to management and that Wal-Mart's discriminatory practices be changed, to
ensure fair and equitable treatment of female employees. I understand the responsibilities of a named
plaintiff and I am prepared to fulfill my duties to the women in the class.
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 _______________________.
______________________________
S:\SHARE\LEGAL\Walmart\Declarations\Cleo Page Class Cert dec.doc