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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, Dawnia Self, declare:
1. I am a 33
year old female living in Madill, Oklahoma.
I worked at Wal-Mart’s Fort Collins, Colorado store for approximately
two years, starting on April 22, 1998. I
then transferred to the Wal-Mart store in Durant, Oklahoma for approximately
nine months. After working at the
Durant, Oklahoma store, I transferred once again to Wal-Mart’s store in Madill,
Oklahoma for seven months before moving to Sanger, Texas and working at a
Wal-Mart distribution center until
October, 2002.
2. During my
employment at Wal-Mart, I encountered discrimination based upon my gender with
regard to my compensation and work assignments.
3. When I
worked as a Softlines Sales Floor Associate at the Fort Collins, Colorado
store, I made requests for merit raises on numerous occasions to Ed Holt, the
Store Manager, David Headrick, my immediate supervisor, and Jack Gunn, another
Manager. My requests were always
denied.
4. I know
that other male employees at the Fort Collins store in 1998 and 1999 received
merit raises and/or made an hourly wage that was higher than mine even though
their experience and jobs at Wal-Mart were comparable to mine. Included among these men was John Brailsford,
who worked in the Electronics Department.
Mr. Brailsford told me what his hourly wage was.
5. I also know
that other males who had experience comparable with mine made a higher wage
than me for doing similar work when I worked at the Durant, Oklahoma store in
the second half of 2000 and the first half of 2001. I am aware, for example, that John Branch was
hired into a Day Receiving job at a very high hourly rate that exceeded my
hourly wages.
6. During my
employment at the Durant, Oklahoma store, I had to ask Mike Snell, the
Assistant Manager, and Buddy Sherryl, the District Manager, repeatedly for a
differential pay increase when I switched jobs from Cashier to Night
Receiving. My husband, who also worked
for Wal-Mart at the same store, received a differential pay increase when he
switched jobs to Night Receiving, even though he did not have to ask for it. Wal-Mart eventually approved my differential
pay request, but I should not have had to even ask for it, as it was Wal-Mart
policy that Night Receiving positions received differential pay increases.
7. After
working in the Night Receiving position, I moved into a Department Manager
position in the Shoe Department. Mr.
Snell, the Assistant Manager, gave the order that I would not be able to keep
the pay differential I had in the previous Night Receiving position, even
though my husband was able to automatically, without asking, keep his pay
differential when he moved into Department Manager and Support Manager
positions from Night Receiving. I spoke
at length to both Mr. Snell and Brenda Logan, the District Manager, about my
desire to keep the differential. My
request was finally approved, but I was never compensated for the pay
differential I was entitled to receive in the Shoe Department Manager position
for the first few weeks of the job.
8. I
transferred to the Madill, Oklahoma store in the fall of 2001 to be closer to
where my ailing father lived. Males at
the Madill store who had experience comparable with mine made a higher wage
than me for doing similar work. One such
person was Larry Burns, who had an Unloader position.
9. During my
time at the Madill store, I had discussions with Tim Owen, the Store Manager,
regarding my desire for merit raises, more hours per week, to be placed on
full-time status and to be placed in the Management Training Program. Mr. Owen only laughed at me in response to my
requests. I also met with Bill
White, District Manager, to discuss being placed in the Management Training
Program, but he ignored my request. In
the “Associates Comments” section of my Annual Performance Appraisal in February,
2002, I asked to be promoted to a management position. See Annual Performance Appraisal dated
2/11/02 and identified as WMHO 1042861, a true and correct copy of which is
attached hereto as Exhibit 1. No one in
management, however, responded to my requests.
10. When I
moved to the Sanger, Texas store in approximately May, 2002, Wal-Mart assigned
me to a Break Pack position. During my
orientation at the Sanger, Texas store, out of the 18 people in orientation,
there were only three women present.
Greg Carpenter, a Maintenance Manager, attended one of my initial
orientation sessions, and pointed around the room at each employee making
comments about the positions to which he thought each employee would be
assigned. When he pointed at me and the
two other women, he said that he “knew where we were going,” implying that the
only job we were capable of doing was Break Pack. The following day, Jose Perez, orientation
leader, was discussing company policies and stated that anyone who stereotyped
people at Wal-Mart would be fired. After
Mr. Perez said this, I told Mr. Perez about the stereotype Mr. Carpenter had
used during our orientation. Mr. Perez told me that he would handle the
situation. Mr. Carpenter was neither
disciplined nor fired, but shortly thereafter received a promotion.
11. When my
father died in August, 2002, I took a leave of absence. My husband automatically received bereavement
pay without requesting it. I, however,
had to request bereavement pay for my own father’s death. At first, Wal-Mart refused to give me the
bereavement pay, but only after I insisted, they finally agreed to give it to
me.
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.
______________________________
Dawnia Self