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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, Barbara Steele, declare:
1.
I am a woman and
a former employee of Wal-Mart. I reside
in Arizona.
2.
I worked for
Wal-Mart for 16 years as an hourly employee, an Assistant Manager, a
Co-Manager, and a Store Manager. I held
field management positions in several different states.
3.
I was hired in
1986 as an hourly employee at a Wal-Mart in Carthage,
Missouri. Within a year and a half, I
had been promoted to Department Manager and then to Support Manager. In approximately 1988, Store Manager Lou
Amato asked me what my career goals were, and I told him I was interested in a
management position. Mr. Amato told me
that the District Manager's approval was required for me to join the Management
Training Program, and he told me that he would recommend me to District Manager
Dave Simpson. My co-worker Sherrie
Lambeth also expressed interest in management during the same conversation, and
Mr. Amato said he would recommend her also.
I also expressed my interest in management on my 1988 performance
evaluation, on which I received an above-standard rating: “My goal is ... to
advance myself to the highest possible position.” (True and correct copy attached hereto as
Steele Exhibit A.)
4.
During the next
year, Ms. Lambeth and I tried to arrange interviews with Mr. Simpson whenever
he was in the store, but he was completely unresponsive. In autumn 1989, I asked Mr. Amato why my
promotion was being delayed, and he told me that Mr. Simpson refused to
recommend me or Ms. Lambeth for the Management Training Program because he did
not believe women should have management positions.
5.
In October 1989,
I was finally promoted into the Management Training Program by District Manager
Jim Lund. Mr. Amato and Mr. Lund both
told me that managers were required to be available to relocate anywhere in the
country. I expressed my availability to
work anywhere Wal-Mart needed managers.
6.
I was assigned to
a store in Joplin, Missouri, for management training. When my training was complete, I again told
District Manager Lund that I was willing to move my residence if necessary for
an Assistant Manager assignment. Shortly
thereafter, Regional Personnel Manager Marie Hughes
offered me a position as Assistant Manager at a store in Atascocita, Texas,
which I accepted.
7.
I worked as an
Assistant Manager at the Atascocita store for two years, and was then
transferred in 1992 to a store in Porter, Texas, where I worked another year as
an Assistant Manager. By this time, I
had been an Assistant Manager for three years, and I was becoming concerned
that I would not be promoted to Store Manager, despite my positive evaluations
and hard work.
8.
I called Regional
Personnel Manager Hughes to tell her my career felt stalled. Ms. Hughes suggested that I take an
assignment as Assistant Manager at a “problem store” in Silver City, New
Mexico. I then spoke with that store's
District Manager, Rick Klein, who told me that if I could get the store “under
control,” I would get promoted to Store Manager. I accepted the assignment.
9.
I started at the
Silver City store in September 1993.
During the two years I worked in Silver City, I was frequently assigned
to set up new stores in other states, including North Dakota, South Dakota, and
Missouri. I was always told that I
needed to accept these “opportunities” in order to improve my chances for
promotion. However, no matter how many
such assignments I accepted, I continued to work as an Assistant Manager with no promotion in
sight.
10.
I was finally promoted to Store
Manager of a store in Winslow, Arizona, 1995, by District Manager Charles
Balentine. I had been an Assistant
Manager with positive evaluations and no coachings for six years.
11.
Throughout my
career at Wal-Mart, I observed many male Assistant Managers obtain promotions
to Store Manager after spending less time as an Assistant Manager than I
had. For example, Gary Freeman was
promoted to Store Manager of the Atascocita, Texas store in 1990 after only
three years as an Assistant Manager.
Richard Bourget was promoted to Store Manager of a store in Scarborough,
Maine, in 2000 after only three years as an Assistant Manager and nine months
as a Co-Manager. I also learned
that Sherrie Lambeth, my co-worker from Carthage, Missouri, spent ten years as
an Assistant Manager before she was promoted to Store Manager.
12.
In the two years
I was Store Manager in Winslow, my management team and I improved the store's
overall performance rating from second or third-worst in the region to one of
the top ten percent.
13.
In 1997, I obtained a transfer as
a Store Manager to a larger store in Lewiston, Idaho. In the two years that I was Store Manager in
Lewiston, my management team and I improved the store's overall performance
rating in the region from the bottom quarter to the top quarter.
14.
Nonetheless, in
1999, District Manager Alan Schamber demoted me to Assistant Manager and
transferred me to a store in Yakima, Washington, for allegedly backdating the
evaluation date for one of my employees.
I felt strongly that my demotion for such a minor infraction was unfair,
and I used the Open Door to complain to Regional Vice President Bob Erickson. Mr. Erickson told me that the demotion would
stand but that I could start applying for promotion again to Store Manager
after 90 days.
15.
Over the next
three years, I applied more than twenty times for Store Manager positions using
Wal-Mart’s new computerized Management Career Selection system. I was never reinstated to a Store Manager
position. I learned that many of the
Store Manager positions that I applied for went to men with equal or lesser
qualifications than I had. In 2000,
Richard Bourget was chosen over me for promotion to Store Manager in
Scarborough, Maine. Mr. Bourget had only
three years’ experience as an Assistant Manager and nine months’ experience as
a Co-Manager. I had four years’
experience as a Store Manager and six years’ experience as an Assistant
Manager. Also, In 2000, John Clifton was
chosen over me for promotion to Store Manager in Salem, Oregon, even though Mr.
Clifton had only five years' experience as an Assistant Manager and less than
one year's experience as a Co-Manager.
Also, in 2000, James Sexton was chosen over me for promotion to Store
Manager in Edmond, Oklahoma, even though Mr. Sexton had only four years'
experience as an Assistant Manager and two years' experience as a Co-Manager. Also in 2000, Michael Kelly was chosen over
me for promotion to Store Manager in Vancouver, Washington, even though he had
only two years' experience as a Store Manager.
16.
I also saw male
employees, who had been demoted or terminated for more serious misconduct than
I had been accused of, granted promotions in violation of the 90-day rule. For example, Mr. Schamber, the District
Manager who had demoted me, was terminated for fraternizing with a female Store
Manager shortly after my demotion. He
applied for and received the position of Store Manager at a store in Vancouver,
Washington, even though fewer than 90 days had passed since his
termination. I had just passed the
90-day mark, and I also applied for that Store Manager position. I never received an explanation as to how Mr.
Schamber had access to the Management Career Selection system during a period
when he was not a Wal-Mart employee.
17.
In total, I know
that men with equal or lesser qualifications than I had received most of the
Store Manager positions I applied for via the Management Career Selection
system. I never received any information
about why I was not chosen, other than a form letter via Wal-Mart’s internal
e-mail system stating that another applicant had been offered each position. During this time period, my evaluations were
consistently “above standard” or “exceeds expectations.”
18.
After my
demotion, I worked as an Assistant Manager in Yakima for one year. In approximately 2000, Store Manager Shannon
Horton (male) asked District Manager Don Schulties, in my presence, why I had
not been promoted to Store Manager. Mr.
Schulties replied, “Home Office won't let me re-promote her.” When I heard Mr. Schulties' comment, I
finally realized that I was unlikely to ever regain a position as Store
Manager. However, because I was the sole
wage earner for my family, I continued to work at Wal-Mart for another two
years as Grocery Co-Manager. During that
time, I continued to use the Management Career Selection system to apply for
Store Manager positions, but I was never promoted to Store Manager.
19.
In January 2003,
District Manager Dennis McMillan told me that he was assigning me the position
of Co-Manager of Softlines and the Front End in addition to my existing
position of Grocery Co-Manager. No raise
was included with this “offer.” To me,
the message was clear: I was qualified to do all the difficult work of store
management, but I was not ever going to obtain a promotion back to the level
and salary rate of Store Manager.
20.
I left Wal-Mart
in late January 2003, out of frustration with Wal-Mart’s failure to promote
me. I am a Store Manager at Fry’s
Grocery in Arizona.
21.
In my 16 years at
Wal-Mart, I never worked with a female Store Manager, and I only knew of one
other female Store Manager. I never
worked with or knew of any female District Managers.
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 Arizona that the foregoing is
true and correct.
This Declaration was signed by me on
______________________ (month and day), 2003, at
_______________________________ (city and state).
___________________________________
Barbara Steele