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 CHARLES TOMPKINS JULIE GOLDSMITH 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, 20^th 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 DAWN WHITE IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION

I, DAWN WHITE, declare:

1. I have worked for Wal-Mart for a total of about seven years in stores in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. I am female.

2. All the Wal-Mart stores I worked in had basically the same policies. They used the same employee handbook and the same computer systems. I did not have to repeat the orientation when I transferred from one store to another.

3. I was first hired by Wal-Mart in 1988. I took a break in my Wal-Mart employment in 1990 when my husband was transferred to Japan with the United States military. While we were in Japan, I worked as a sales clerk and cashier at the Army-Air Force Exchange Service store for one and a half years.

4. I resumed my employment at Wal-Mart, at the Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Supercenter, in September 1998. Since January 2001 I have worked at the Supercenter in Valdosta, Georgia. I was promoted from sales associate to Department Manager of the Pet Department in February 2001. Since August 2002 I have been Department Manager in Hardware.

5. I have been interested in a career at Wal-Mart ever since I was 16 years old, when I worked part-time in the Prattville, Alabama store. I first started to pursue my interest in management at the Valdosta store in early 2001. I spoke to every manager I could about wanting to get into management. In about April 2001, I mentioned it to the District Manager Michael Fendley one day when he was in the store for a quick inspection. A couple of days later, he came back to the store to interview me as a candidate for the Management in Training program. He told me that I seemed to know what I was doing as Department Manager and would be a good candidate for promotion to Assistant Manager but that I needed to be a Department Manager for at least 90 days before I could be considered for promotion to Assistant Manager.

6. I continued as Department Manager in Pets for more than a year. During that time, I did everything I could to increase my chances for promotion. I tried to get a mentor. Assistant Manager Janice Duncan was supposed to mentor me through the management mentor program, but she never did. I asked for training. Co-Manager Kevin Fullmer advised me to go to Linda [Last Name Unknown], the personnel training manager. She checked my CBLs and my Telxon and said that since everything was up to date there was nothing she could train me on. I asked Store Manager Harwell several times to help increase my readiness for promotion. Even though he spent a lot of time with male Department Managers, training them, he would not help me. I estimate he spent a total of two hours in my department from about July 2001 to about June 2002. He basically ignored me.

7. During that same time period, I was asked by Co-Manager Fullmer to train at least two men, Alan Scott Kent and Jason Reed, to prepare them to move up at Wal-Mart. Both men were in the management mentor program, which is, as I understand it, a preparatory stage for employees who want to enter the Management in Training program. I started training Alan Scott Kent in about January 2002. He had been at Wal-Mart less time than I had. He was made a Department Manager in about February 2002. After Kent was made a Department Manager, I observed that Store Manager Harwell worked with him in his department and continued to give him management training to prepare him to move up in the company.

8. In about January 2002, after I had been a Department Manager for almost a year, I spoke to Co-Manager Kevin Fullmer again about my possibly being promoted into management. He said he thought I was ready to be promoted but that I would need to speak to the Store Manager about it. When I spoke to Store Manager Harwell, he said I was not worthy of promotion and would never be management material. This was despite the fact that I have always gotten excellent evaluations.

9. I started training Jason Reed in about April 2002. Though Reed had been at the Valdosta store longer than I had, he was a recent high school graduate and did not have nearly as much retail experience as I did. He had been promoted to Department Manager of Grocery and Dry Goods, but he did not have a clue as to how to run his department. After Reed was made Department Manager, I observed that Store Manager Harwell worked with him in his department and continued to give him management training to prepare him to move up in the company.

10. In the spring of 2002 I was making only $7.59/hour. I became aware that Jason was making almost $2.00/hour more than me as a Department Manager, even though he had only about two years of experience to my six. He told me this in casual conversation. He said that he had bargained with Wal-Mart for a big raise when he became Department Manager because he deserved it if he was going to manage such a large department and because he needed more money because he was getting married.

11. Recently, in about January 2003, Wal-Mart posted an announcement in the Valdosta store that any employee who met certain qualifications could sign up to enter the Management in Training program. I would have been very interested in signing up, except for the fact that I did not meet one of the qualifications – that you had to be without any write-ups or other disciplinary measures for at least six months. Just before the announcement was posted, Assistant Manager Kelly Ivey gave me my first ever written warning. It was for using a light bulb count off the computer instead of physically counting all of them (there were many thousands). Even though it was pretty routine to use the computer count for items, like light bulbs, where there were thousands in stock -- in fact this practice was sanctioned by District Manager Michael Fendley – I was written up for doing it.

12. At this point, I am very disillusioned about opportunities for me at Wal-Mart. My original plan when I started working at the Valdosta store was to become an Assistant Manager quickly, then spend seven years in that position until my husband retired from the military. Then I would be ready to be promoted to Co-Manager, and I could become the main breadwinner in the family. This would give my husband a chance to follow his dreams and have the “fun” job for a change. Now all of that is down the tubes. My family will soon be relocating to North Dakota. I plan to take my experience and work somewhere else where they are willing to appreciate what I have to offer.

13. I have personal knowledge of each and every fact set forth in this 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 Georgia that the foregoing is true and correct.

This Declaration was signed by me on ______________________, 2003, at _______________________.

______________________________

Dawn M. White

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