BRAD SELIGMAN (SBN 083838)

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

 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

 

 

BETTY DUKES, PATRICIA SURGESON, CLEO PAGE, CHRISTINE KWAPNOSKI, DEBORAH GUNTER, KAREN WILLIAMSON AND EDITH ARANA, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated,

 

                        Plaintiff,

            vs.

WAL-MART STORES, INC.,

                        Defendant

Case No. C-01-2252 MJJ

 

DECLARATION OF ANDREA TALLENT

IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION

 

 

I, Andrea Tallent, 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. in Franklin in North Carolina, from September 27, 1988 until November, 2000.  I am female.

3.         I received an AAS degree in accounting in 1976, a diploma in auto mechanics in 1978, and an AAS degree in Paralegal Technology in August 1988. I have an additional 2 years of college education.   All of this training was on the initial resume I submitted to Wal-Mart in 1988. 

4.         Prior to being hired by Wal-Mart, I sold fabric in a retail store from 1983 to 1988.  From 1989 to 1990 I owned a store with Glenda Anderson, craft department manger, while also working at Wal-Mart.

5.         I was originally hired by Wal-Mart as the fabric department manager because of my retail experience with fabric and crafts.

6.         As Stationary Department Manger I received two “Good Job” awards before 1993.  One was for sales increase and the other for mark-up increase.  These awards were 1/4 share of stock given by the Regional Manager [name forgotten].  

7.                  After asking several times, I was finally promoted to Support Manager in approximately 1997.  The only other position I was offered was Photo manager, a position I held from February to November 2000.

8.                  I began asking about the management training program for Assistant Manager positions at my initial interview with Roger Smith, Co-manager, in 1988. From 1993 through 2000 I was bounced around to different positions.  In spring 1993 I came back from a six-week setup in Greenville, SC and I gave John Hay, District Manager, copy of my excellent evaluation and asked him again about the management training program. I had also requested that the setup supervisor call him and recommend me for the promotion. Mr. Hay offered me the position on the condition that I would transfer to a store anywhere in the United States.  He did not offer me the option to transfer to the Wal-Mart store in Sylva, about 18 miles away. I accepted the promotion based on Mr. Hay’s conditions with the intention of moving my family.  Several days later I told Mr. Hay that I wanted the promotion, but had to decline since I could not relocate further away than the Sylva store due to a change in my home situation..  When I told Mr. Hay about the limitation on my ability to relocate, I stepped down from the assistant manager trainee to a position handling competition ads and store signing.  Since this was not a classified position I was titled as a cashier. Later on I began running a register full-time when computer scheduling was implemented.  I was made Department Manager again just prior to being made Photo Lab Manager in February 2000.

9.         The same week, Mr. Dahmer was hired as a third shift warehouse Assistant Manager in the Franklin, NC store.  Mr. Dahmer told me that Mr. Hay had hired him from McLane’s, a supplier bought by Wal-Mart, as a third shift manager with the promise that he did not have to transfer.  

10.       In 1988 during a department manager’s meeting in the old upstairs breakroom, Roger Smith, Store Manager, told us at that “men need to be paid more than women because they have families to support.”

11.         I told district manager John Hay’s assistant, Karen Jones, that he had a history of promoting single white men under 30 and it was beginning to become a legal issue.  The next day a woman named Mary Beth who worked in softlines in the Franklin, NC store and was promoted to the assistant manager training program.          

12.       Ken Kribbs and Sharon Kribbs were hired on the same day as sales associates, although they worked as stockers.  I was Ms. Kribbs supervisor and she told me Mr. Kribbs was being paid more per hour then she was.

            I declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States and of the State of North Carolina, that the foregoing is true and correct. I signed this on April  _____, 2003 in __________, North Carolina.

                                                                                                _______________________

                                                                                                Andrea Tallent