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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, Sandra
Thomas, 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 the
Norman, Oklahoma Supercenter from April 26, 1999 to August 26, 2000. I am female.
3. I was hired at a wage of $6.15 per hour
as a claims manager. I was told by Mike
Butts and Stephen Butts that they were hired at the same time that I was, but
were paid $8.00 per hour. Based on what Mike and Steve Butts told me, I
complained several times to Jack Scott, Co-Manager that I was paid $1.85
per hour less than both Mike Butts and
Stephen Butts when I was doing similar work and neither of us had any retail
experience prior to working at Wal-Mart experience. I did inventory control and
kept books for years at other companies and Mike Butts told me he ran a
forklift and stocked inventory at an office supply company for 8 – 9
months. Mike Butts earned $1.85 per hour
more then I earned even though I was required to complete the monthly financial
journals for his department because he did
not know how to keep the journals. Eventually, about 6 months after using the Open Door policy and complaining to
Mr. Scott on several occasions, my wage was increased by $1.25
per hour to $7.40 an hour. Then
after my performance evaluation for 2002 I received another increase of $0.61
to bring me to $8.01 an hour.
5.
Although my pay was increased to $8.01 per hour after
I complained, I was then singled out as a “troublemaker” for having
complained. Specifically, Mr. Scott took
away my assistant, Sally, who was assigned to my department to help process
claims for returned and damaged merchandise.
I was her supervisor and I was responsible for the entire department. When
Sally was moved from my department, my work load increased dramatically. The merchandise to be returned for credit or
damaged merchandise started accumulating in large piles. Mr. Scott and Assistant Manager Mark told me
that if I was not able to handle the work they would get someone who could
handle it. They indicated they did not
care how I did it, I was to just get the work done whether or not I followed
procedures. It was unheard of to have
one person in the claims department in a store that large and it made it
impossible for me to keep up with the amount of work to be completed. I was trained by a friend of Jack Scotts, 30
year veteran of Wal-Mart, whose name I cannot remember, who told me Supercenters always had at least
two people in claims.
6.
After being harassed on a daily basis about getting
the work done and watching it pile up I told them to get someone else to do it
and I would do inventory control. After
three days of working inventory control I was told I would be responsible for
unloading the trucks in the evening. I
knew it would be physically damaging for me to do that kind of heavy work, so I
quit rather then risk injury.
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
April _____ , 2003, in Washington,
Oklahoma.
_______________________________
Sandra
Thomas