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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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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, Lori Pidich, declare:
1.
I am a woman and a former Wal-Mart employee. After working for Wal-Mart for six years, I
was fired because I would not relocate my home.
2.
I began working at Wal-Mart in 1994 when I was twenty-three years
old. Prior to working at Wal-Mart, I
worked for more than four years as a front end supervisor at two different
retail stores. I had also earned
an Associates degree in applied retail science.
At my interview to work for Wal-Mart, I told Assistant Manager John
Kramer that I was interested in a career with Wal-Mart because I had heard that
the company provided advancement opportunities.
I love the retail environment and was excited to work for Wal-Mart. I had heard of Wal-Mart’s reputation as our
country’s up-and-coming retailer.
3.
From 1994 until 2000, I worked as an hourly employee in the following
positions: customer service manager, jewelry department manager, electronics
department associate, accessories department manager, girls department manager,
and infants department manager. During
this period, I worked in a Division One Wal-Mart store in West Miflin,
Pennsylvania and in a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania.
4.
In 1995, after having worked as jewelry department manager, I was
transferred to the electronics department.
At the time, there was no department manager in electronics. I assumed the responsibilities of department
manager, but was not given the title.
While I was working in the electronics department, I received an annual
evaluation. I was rated “above
standard.” A manager wrote on the
evaluation that “Lori will be a department mng [manager] someday.” A true and correct copy of that evaluation is
attached hereto as Pidich Exhibit A.
After I began working in the department, a male employee, named Eric
Deutsch, transferred into the department and became the department manager. Mr. Deutsch did not know how to run the
department. I trained Mr. Deutsch to be
the electronics department manager. I
never saw a posting for the electronics department manager position that Mr.
Deutsch filled, and I was never offered the position.
5.
During my career as an hourly employee of Wal-Mart, I repeatedly told my
supervisors that I wanted to be promoted to a support manager or Assistant
Manager position. I saw male department
managers being promoted more quickly than I was. Eric Deutsch, the electronics department
manager that I trained, was promoted to support manager and then to the
management training program. Brian
Lemley, the chemicals department manager, was promoted to support manager and
later to Assistant Manager. Scott
Stanley, the sporting goods department manager, was promoted to support manager
and later to the management training program.
Bob Mathers, a receiving department employee, was promoted to support
manager and then to the management training program. Chad Mathers, the food department manager,
was promoted to support manager and then to the management training
program. These five men were promoted to
support manager, management training, and Assistant Manager positions years
before I was invited to enter management training.
6.
After becoming Assistant Managers, Bob Mathers and Brian Lemley
continued to work in the West Miflin Wal-Mart store. Mr. Mathers and Mr. Lemley were not required
to relocate. As Assistant Managers,
Scott Stanley and Chad Mathers were assigned to Wal-Mart stores in the
Pittsburgh area. My home is within
commuting distance of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
7.
I received an annual evaluation in October 1997. Assistant Manager Krista Bobnar wrote on that
evaluation that I “would make a good support manager.” A true and correct copy
of that evaluation is attached hereto as Pidich Exhibit B. I saw a support manager position posted in
the store where I worked on only one occasion.
I applied for the position, but was not selected. Despite the comment on my evaluation, I was
never promoted to the position of support manager.
8.
When Bob Mathers was promoted to support manager, I asked Store Manager
Herman Enderle why Mr. Mathers was promoted instead of me and why the position
was not posted. Mr. Enderle told me that
it was his decision, that I should just keep working hard, and that there would
be other opportunities in the future.
Because Mr. Enderle did not tell me that I could do anything to get
promoted, other than working hard as I was already doing, I did not think that
using the “open door” would be effective when Chad Mathers, Brian Lemley, and
Eric Deutsch were promoted to support manager positions instead of me.
9.
I began working at the Mount Pleasant Supercenter in September
1999. Although I was classified as a UPC
clerk, I frequently performed special assignments. I trained department managers. I traveled to different stores in the
district to perform STAR audits. I
worked on a “high shrink review” at the Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania store. I helped prepare the Uniontown store for an
inventory. I worked at the Washington,
Pennsylvania Wal-Mart store while it was being converted to a Supercenter,
helping Assistant Manager Michelle Jones to run the Division One store while
the new Supercenter was being set-up. I
assumed the responsibilities of the softlines Assistant Manager in the Mount
Pleasant store when the Assistant Manager was on a leave of absence. In that capacity, I prepared the softlines
department managers for a scheduled inventory.
10.
In the summer of 2000, District Manager David Rulli asked me if I wanted
to interview for the management training program. Mr. Rulli told me that Mount Pleasant Store
Manager Delia Gerdes had recommended me.
Ms. Gerdes was the first and only female Store Manager for whom I had
worked at Wal-Mart. Ms. Gerdes became
Store Manager of the Mount Pleasant store only a few months before Mr. Rulli
approached me about entering the management training program.
11.
I told Mr. Rulli that I wanted to be promoted to management, but I did
not want to relocate my home. I have
lived in the same area of western Pennsylvania all of my life. All of my family lives there, including my
grandmother who resided in a nursing home.
I was willing to drive to any store within the district and to stores
outside of the district that are within commuting distance. Mr. Rulli told me that I would not have to
relocate my home and that, as an Assistant Manager, I would be placed in a
store within the district.
12.
Mr. Rulli completed a form that showed that I was being promoted to the
management training program. He told me
that he had written on the form that I could not relocate. A true and correct copy of that form is
attached hereto as Pidich Exhibit C. “No
Relo” is written on the bottom left-hand corner of the form.
13.
On the same day, I signed another form stating that I agreed “to move”
following completion of the training program.
A true and correct copy of the form is attached hereto as Pidich Exhibit
D. I understood my signature to mean
that I would have to move to a different store after completing the training
program. I did not understand my
signature to mean that I would have to move my home. I trusted District Manager Rulli’s promise
that, as an Assistant Manager, I would be assigned to a store within his
district.
14.
I transferred to the Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania store to do my
training. I began the training program
later than planned because, at the time that I was scheduled to begin, I was I
performing the duties of softlines Assistant Manager in the Mount Pleasant
Supercenter. The Store Manager in Mount
Pleasant would not let me leave the Mount Pleasant Supercenter.
15.
As I was nearing completion of the management training program, Belle
Vernon Store Manager Jim Lowe informed me that I was assigned to work as an
Assistant Manager in a Wal-Mart store in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania. Shrewsbury is about a four or five hour drive
from my home. It is not in the district
where I was working.
16.
I spoke to District Manager Rulli about my assignment to
Shrewsbury. I reminded Mr. Rulli of the
paper on which he had written that I would not be relocated. Mr. Rulli denied writing that.
17.
I used the “open door” policy to contact Regional Personnel Manager Kirk
Garza. After I explained the situation,
Mr. Garza replied that it was my word against Mr. Rulli’s word, and that he
believed Mr. Rulli. I told Mr. Garza
that a male in the management training program, Charles “Vince” Garufi, had been
assigned to work in the Wal-Mart store in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, within Mr.
Rulli’s district. To my knowledge, Mr.
Garufi had never worked for Wal-Mart before entering the management training
program. Mr. Garza told me that he would
not discuss other trainees’ assignments with me. Mr. Garza told me that my only options were
to transfer to Shrewsbury or to resign.
I asked Mr. Garza if I could step down to an hourly position. Mr. Garza refused to permit me to step down,
even though doing so would enable me to continue working for Wal-Mart. I found that the “open door” policy was
ineffective.
18.
After I was told of my assignment to Shrewsbury, I learned that there
was an opening for a girls department manager in the Belle Vernon, Wal-Mart
store where I was doing my training. I
applied for the position. I had managed
the girls department at the West Miflin store, and I had years of experience
managing other softlines departments. I
was not interviewed for, or offered, the position.
19.
On January 19, 2001, I was fired from Wal-Mart because I refused to
transfer to Shrewsbury. A few weeks
after I was fired, I received a call from Belle Vernon Store Manager Jim
Lowe. Mr. Lowe told me that he would
permit me to call Store Managers outside of Mr. Rulli’s district to find out
whether there were any openings for hourly positions. Mr. Lowe told me that I could not ask those
Store Managers if there were any Assistant Manager openings.
20.
After I was fired, I filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human
Relations Commission. In that complaint,
I alleged that Wal-Mart discriminated against me on the basis of my gender by
assigning me to Shrewsbury while assigning a male employee, Vince Garufi, to a
store within the district where I worked.
A true and correct copy of that complaint is attached hereto as Pidich
Exhibit E.
21.
At my deposition, Wal-Mart produced a response to my discrimination
complaint. A true and correct copy of
the response is attached here to as Pidich Exhibit F. The response is verified by Robert C. DeMoss,
Corporate Counsel of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
In paragraph 5 of the response, Wal-Mart “denies employing a male
associate, Mr. Garufi.” That statement
by Wal-Mart Corporate Counsel is false.
22. 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
Pennsylvania that the foregoing is true and correct.
This
Declaration was signed by me on ______________________, 2003, at
_______________________.
_____________________________