|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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, Ramona Scott, 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
was employed by Wal-Mart, Inc. from October 1990 until September 1998. I am female.
Throughout my tenure at Wal-Mart, I was never disciplined or coached,
and I received good evaluations.
3. I
was hired by Wal-Mart as a Customer Service Manager (CSM) for a new store that
was opening in St. Petersburg, Florida.
I already had experience as a manager at a supermarket and video store,
so I accepted the CSM position. As CSM,
my duties included supervising cashiers, among other things. When the store opened, I immediately became
aware of departmental gender segregation.
All the cashiers were women, while the electronics and sporting goods
departments were predominantly staffed by men.
Additionally, I realized that men were primarily in charge of the store;
there was only one woman among the five Managers.
4. In
July 1991, I received a promotion to Personnel Manager. I did not apply for this position, I was
asked to take it. As Personnel Manager,
I was responsible for hiring procedures,
new employee orientation, distributing payroll, keying evaluations and merit
raises, and ensuring compliance with Occupation Safety and Health regulations,
and more. The actual paychecks came
bi-weekly from Home Office in Bentonville, Arkansas.
5. On
or about October 1991, I was transferred
to a Wal-Mart in Pinellas Park, Florida, after I used the Open Door to complain
about my Store Manager. I asked to stay
at the St. Petersburg store, but the District Manager, David Bonar, said that
it was better for me to move.
6. The
departments at the Pinellas Park store were also largely segregated by gender. Most cashiers were women and men worked in
electronics, sporting goods, and the garden center. The Store Manager was male, as were two of
the four Assistant Managers.
7. In
my capacity as Personnel Manager at the Pinellas Park store, I had access to
payroll records. I noticed that generally
men made more than women, and that men were able to get most of the overtime
that was available.
8. Sometime
in 1993, I sought approval for a merit raise for a female cashier, but the
Store Manager, Gary Currens, denied my request. I responded that men were making more than
women and asked why that was the case.
Mr. Currens replied: "Men are here to make a career and women
aren't. Retail is for housewives who
just need to earn extra money."
Some time in 1995 or 1996, I asked the male Assistant Manager for
electronics, Anton Modrich, why he was giving one of his male employees a merit
raise because I didn't think the employee had earned it; Mr. Modrich responded, "He has a family
to support." I pointed out that I
too had a family to support -- I was a single mother -- but he just walked
away. I did not receive a raise.
9. As
Personnel Manager, I was also involved in hiring hourly associates. Sometime in 1995 or 1996, Store Manager
Currens directed me to hire a custodian to clean the employee lounge and store
restrooms. He specifically told me that
I had to hire a woman. Thereafter,
whenever the custodial position opened up, he would reiterate that we needed to
hire a woman for that position.
10. In
about 1995 or 1996, I spoke with the District Manager, David Bonar, about
getting into the Assistant Manager Training Program. Mr. Bonar said there were no openings. I knew of no posting or application process
for the training program; to my knowledge, asking the District Manager was the
only way to become an Assistant Manager.
Mr. Bonar gave me no other assistance or guidance as to how to get into
the program, how to find out when openings occurred, or whether there were in
fact openings available.
11. Sometime
in 1997, Nick Batista transferred from the Largo store to become the new Store
Manager of the Pinellas Park store. When
Mr. Batista saw my pay rate, he laughed and told me that the male Personnel
Manager of the Largo store made "a lot more" than I did. He did not give me a raise after that.
12. In
about 1997, I spoke with the Mr. Batista about getting into the Assistant
Manager Training Program. Mr. Batista
told me he had other plans for me, but never said what those plans were. Shortly after that, he told me that in order
to get along with him, I needed to behave like his wife. From his description of his wife, I
understood Mr. Batista to mean that he wanted me to wait on him and fix him his
coffee. In fact, when the District
Manager visited, Mr. Batista would tell me to go get them coffee. After this second instance of being rejected
for admission into the Assistant Manager training program, I decided to give up
on further promotion.
I
declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States and State of Florida
that the foregoing is true and correct.
This
Declaration was signed by me on ______________________, 2003, at
_______________________.
______________________________
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