|
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 |
|
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, Sandra Ratliff, declare:
1. I am a female from Mustang,
Oklahoma. I have worked for Wal-Mart in
its Oklahoma City Neighborhood Market store since November1999. During my employment at Wal-Mart, I have repeatedly
attempted to get into the Management Training Program, but so far Wal-Mart has
chosen to promote and hire males into the Management Training Program instead
of me because I am a woman. I used the
Open Door to complain about the disparate treatment of men and women in my
store, which resulted in retaliation from my store manager and district
manager.
2. I was hired at the Neighborhood Market
in November 1999, as a meat cutter.
Right away, I was introduced to several company polices, including
personnel policies. The same personnel
policies that are employed by Wal-Mart in its general merchandise stores apply
to the Neighborhood Markets. Every
personnel policy that I have seen is labeled as a “Wal-Mart” policy, not a
“Neighborhood Market” policy. For
example, the benefits handbook and the associate handbook that I received at
Neighborhood Market are “Wal-Mart” handbooks.
I was also taught the Wal-Mart cheer during my orientation.
3. In fact, it was during the extensive
presentation on Wal-Mart history and Wal-Mart values that I was inspired to aim
for a long-term career and management track at the Neighborhood Market
store. I took my interest in a
management position to my Store Manager, Keith Smith, and my District Manager,
Mike Moore. By April 2000, I had told
them that I would like to develop a career with Wal-Mart and I would like to
become an Assistant Manager, preferably in the meat department, which was one
of my areas of expertise. Prior to
working at Wal-Mart, I had spent six and a half years in grocery store
management, five years as a meat department manager and one and a half years as
a produce manager at an Oklahoma grocery store chain.
4. Mr. Smith and Mr. Moore initially
responded to my interest in promotion with apparent encouragement. They told me there was a great potential for
me to move into a management position at Neighborhood Market. They explained to me that I would first have
to complete the Management Training Program.
They told me they would let me know when an opening was available.
5. In April 2000, I was promoted to Lead
Associate of the Meat Department. I took
the position so that I could learn more about Neighborhood Market operations to
help prepare me for a management position in the store.
6. For months after speaking to Mr. Smith
and Mr. Moore about becoming a Wal-Mart Assistant Manager, neither of them
provided me with any new information regarding how or when I could enter the
Management Training Program. When I
spoke to Mr. Smith, he said he would get back to me after he talked to Mr. Moore. When I spoke to Mr. Moore, he told me he
would get back to me after he talked to Mr. Smith.
7. In August 2000, a male, Corey Zumbro,
was promoted into the Management Training Program in our store. Mr. Zumbro had been a meat cutter, like me,
in Oklahoma City Wal-Mart supercenter.
However, unlike me, Mr. Zumbro had no prior management experience. The opening was not posted. Mr. Smith and Mr. Moore never informed me or
approached me about this open trainee position before they gave it to Mr. Zumbro.
8.
I was disappointed that a less
experienced male was placed in the program instead of me, but nevertheless, I
continued to express my interest in promotion to Mr. Smith and Mr. Moore. They continued to tell me they would “get
back to me.” Finally, in October 2000,
Assistant Manager Shari Kinsey, who was the Area Manager over the meat
department, approached me and told me that Mr. Moore had scheduled me to enter
the Management Training Program.
Assistant Manager Kinsey told me I would start after the holiday season,
in the beginning of 2001.
9. I was very excited to finally begin the
program. I had been living over two
hours away from the store and decided that, since I was entering the program, I
would commit to living closer to Oklahoma City.
In reliance on the increase in salary that I would receive as a Trainee
and later as an Assistant Manager, I bought my first home, closer to the
Neighborhood Market store.
10. The year 2001 began and I was not
promoted to the Management Training Program.
By February 2001, a male, Jeff Miller, had entered the Management
Training Program. District Manager Moore
did not offer me any explanation for failing to promote me and instead
promoting Mr. Miller. When I asked Store
Manager Greg Hobbs, who had replaced Mr. Smith in the fall of 2000, how this
had happened, he acted surprised and said he did not know that I was supposed
to be entering the program.
11. I continued to ask Mr. Moore when I would
start the program. I also talked to Mr.
Hobbs about entering the program. They
never gave me any guidance about what I could do to achieve the promotion. They only reiterated that there were lots of
opportunities in management because Neighborhood Market stores were expanding,
and on one occasion, Mr. Hobbs handed me a print-out which described what a
great career opportunity the Management Training Program provided.
12. In May 2001, another male, David Wilcox,
was picked for the Management Training Program.
Again, I was not put in the program.
Mr. Moore or Mr. Hobbs never gave me an explanation for why I was not
being promoted to a Management Trainee and Mr. Wilcox was being placed in the
program.
13. For over two years, I persisted in
pursing a Management Trainee position, by constantly expressing my interest to
Mr. Hobbs and Mr. Moore. By September
2002, I was overwhelmingly frustrated. I
was on the verge of bankruptcy, because I could not afford the payments for the
house that I had bought in reliance on being paid a management salary. I used the Open Door and wrote to Lee Scott,
CEO of Wal-Mart, because I was not getting anywhere within my district. Attached hereto as Exhibit A is a true and
correct copy of the letter that I sent to Lee Scott. I explained to Mr. Scott that I had been
deprived of promotion opportunities to Management Trainee. I explained that I was frustrated with making
less money than a male employee in my department while I was working harder
than male employees in my department.
Joe Mains, a regional employee, responded to my letter, but he soon
stepped down from his position and I was never contacted regarding my
complaints again.
14. Within a month of my Open Door letter, my
third annual performance evaluation was completed in October 2002. For the first time ever, I received only a
“meets expectations” on my performance evaluation. My prior ratings were all “exceeds
expectations.”
15. A few days after I received the rating,
Store Manager Mr. Hobbs and District Manager Mr. Moore brought me in the store
office. They told me I was not ready for
the Management Training Program and cited as proof my “meets expectations”
rating on my recent evaluation.
16. My performance had, as usual, “exceeded expectations” so I was
very upset about receiving the less desirable and undeserved rating. I believe that Mr. Hobbs and Mr. Moore gave
me this rating in retaliation for my using the Open Door to complain about the
different treatment of males and females in my store. Additionally, I feel that Mr. Hobbs and Mr.
Moore gave me the lower rating to provide themselves with an excuse for keeping
me out of the Management Training Program.
17. I also believe that I was denied entrance
to the Management Training Program during the past two and one-half years
because I am female. Before I reported
the gender discrimination to Lee Scott and subsequently received a “meets
expectations” rating, my performance had been evaluated as excellent. I had over six years of management
experience. However, not only did I not
make it into the program, no female in my store has been promoted into our
Management Training Program. Since I
began working at the Neighborhood Market in November 1999, every employee
promoted into the Management Training Program in the Oklahoma City store has
been male. Every employee hired into the
Management Training Program has also been male.
To my knowledge, at least eight males have been Management Trainees in
my store since I have been working for Wal-Mart.
18. In January 2003, Store Manager Greg Hobbs
announced that those who were interested could apply on the store computer for
the Management Training Program. He
assured us that everyone who applied would be interviewed for the position. I applied.
In March 2003, I was called for an interview. The interview was conducted by the District
Manager Lynn Pearsy, a male. He asked me
scripted, canned questions. None of the
questions were geared toward my work performance, my contributions to the
company or what I could offer the company in a management position. I left the office feeling like the interview
was staged and that Wal-Mart was not truly considering me for a Management
Trainee position.
19. A week later, the District Manager called
me and told me that there had only been a “few” positions available, and I did
not get one of them. It is now April
2003, and I am still not in the Management Training Program. I have had to declare bankruptcy because I
could not afford my house payments. I am
resigned that I will not be given a fair opportunity to advance within Wal-Mart
because I am female. However, to survive
financially, I must continue working here.
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
Oklahoma that the foregoing is true and correct.
This
Declaration was signed by me on ______________________, 2003, at ____________________,
Oklahoma.
______________________________
Sandra Ratliff
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