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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,
Lorie Williams, 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. While employed by Wal-Mart, I have also used the name Lorie Waldrop. Prior to my employment with Wal-Mart I worked briefly as a cook. I graduated from a two-year vocational school in 1986 and received a certificate in accounting. I started working for Wal-Mart in 1991. I was 26 years old. When I began working with Wal-Mart, I hoped to have a steady and stable career.
3. I began working for a Wal-Mart Store in Collierville, Tennessee in May 1991 as a part-time sales associate in Electronics making $4.35 an hour. Within a few months, I began working full-time in Night Receiving. I worked in Night Receiving until I went out on maternity leave in March 1993. When I returned from maternity leave, I went to Electronics as a sales associate.
4. While I was working as a support manager in 1995, Store Manager Wes Grab regularly pulled me and female Assistant Manager Renee Hall aside to criticize us. He often told us we were worthless and no good at our jobs. I never saw Store Manager Grab pull aside male employees to admonish them in this manner. I told Co-Manager Brenda Haynes about these incidents and she recommended I speak with District Manager Richard Wezner. I spoke with Mr. Wezner and he told me he would look into it and get back to me. I never heard from him about these incidents again. After having spoken with two members of management with no response, I felt the open door had closed.
5. In 1996, I became the front end manager. With no training, I was single-handedly responsible for hiring door greeters, cart pushers, over sixty new cashiers, and preparing the entire Front End in order to transition the Collierville Wal-Mart into a Supercenter. Almost immediately, Co-Manager Doug Ayerst and new Store Manager Robert Hayes (he replaced Wes Grab in 1996) began criticizing the way in which I was managing the front end. They repeatedly complained to me about problems in the front end but did not give me any practical management advice and often gave inconsistent instructions. Store Manager Hayes once told me that the problem was that there were “too many damn women in the front end.” On another occasion, Store Manager Hayes and Co-Manager Jim Belcoff pulled me aside to tell me that I needed to “whiten up [the staff of] the front end.” Both of these statements seemed to indicate that they wanted me to stop hiring women and African-American cashiers. When I asked why, they indicated that the staff was “intimidating” to the clientele. I tried to explain that I did not believe this was true and that I was hiring the individuals whom I believed were the most qualified applicants. They were unresponsive.
6. In
1996, while I was front end manager, Store Manager Hayes promoted Robert Beck
from bakery manager to assistant manager over the Front End. Mr. Beck had no experience with hiring,
scheduling, staff management, or working with cash registers, yet he was supposed
to be my direct supervisor and supervisor over the entire front end. I had to train him. Eventually, I ended up completing his
responsibilities because he was unable to do them. I completed all the hiring, pay raises,
scheduling, associate evaluations, customer service, and other management
tasks. Undertaking both sets of
responsibilities was exhausting and extremely frustrating for me and I felt I
was not receiving any management support for my efforts. At one point, Store Manager Hayes warned me
that if any cashiers were caught selling alcohol after hours or on Sundays, he
would make sure I went to jail with them.
I spoke with Store Manager Hayes and Co-Manager Ayerst about my concerns
but they gave me no advice or assistance and continued to complain about
problems in the front end. Shortly
thereafter, in 1997, I decided to step down.
I transferred to a support manager position for a few months, and then
as an associate in the Cash Office.
7. In
1996 and 1997, while I was front end manager and while I worked in the Cash
Office, I had access to payroll data. I
observed that a woman associate, Libby Goff, earned less than at least three
male associates even though she had been with Wal-Mart for several years longer
than any of them. They were Jim Stewart,
James Gibson, and Gary Lewis. I had been
told during the hiring process, during orientation by Personnel Manager Jane
Switzer, and by management during all of my evaluations that I could be fired for
discussing salary issues so I did not reveal this information to anyone.
8.
In 1997, I was promoted to photo lab manager. I was recently divorced and alone in caring
for my four-year old daughter. I
believed this salaried position would provide us the stability that we
needed. As a result, I agreed to leave
my daughter for two weeks in order to go to a mandatory training in
Bentonville, Arkansas. I hoped these
efforts would demonstrate my commitment to Wal-Mart and assist in obtaining the
management support necessary for this position.
I was wrong.
9.
As soon as I started in the position, Store Manager Hayes and
Co-Manager Ayerst began undermining my authority over the photo lab associates,
and even customers. There were several
times when I made management decisions concerning photo lab employees but Store
Manager Hayes refused to back me up and I was left completely unsupported. In addition, when customers would request
illegal copies of copyrighted photographs, I would decline but Co-Managers
Belcoff and Ayerst and Store Manager Hayes would disregard my decision, and the
law, in order to give them copies. On
occasion, a photo machine would fall into disrepair and despite doing all I
could, including fixing some machines myself, calling the correct technical
support, and sending away for parts, Co-Manager Ayerst would yell at me about
the broken machines. I received no
support for my management decisions and was constantly criticized for even the
most minor decisions that I did make, such as the orderliness of the
camera/camcorder displays and the neatness of the floor (something for which
the floor crew was mainly responsible).
I spoke with the District Manager of the Photo Department Kelly [last
name unknown] but she was not helpful.
She never gave me any direct advice or information about ways in which I
might be able to improve the department or fix any of the machines. At one point, Store Manager Hayes and
Co-Manager Ayerst said, “This is our store” and that the District
Manager of the Photo Department, Kelly, had no authority over anything. Due to a lack of management support, I
stepped down from this position in 1998.
A male employee, Kenneth Bartosiewicz, was hired off the street to
replace me.
10.
In 1998, I agreed to accept a sales associate position in the Tire Lube
Express (TLE) department. I was
determined to work hard and succeed in this male-dominated area. I worked for three years handling the
register, doing customer service behind the counter, putting up stock, as well
as changing tires and completing oil changes.
In my entire time in the TLE department, I never saw more than four or
five women working in this 20-person department. Most of the women were behind the
counter. I was one of two women who
worked in the service department.
11. Throughout
my time at Wal-Mart, all my evaluations were rated “Meets Expectations” or
“Exceeds Expectations.”
12. In
2000, I witnessed TLE Manager Joyce Moody receive abuse and mistreatment from
District Manager of TLE James Harsden.
He would constantly check up on her whereabouts, he made critical
comments about her medical problems, and generally talked to her and about her
with resentment and anger. I did not
know why he had such a bad attitude toward Ms. Moody. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Moody transferred to
a Wal-Mart store in another state. Male
Dale Brechin, who had previously been a service technician, was promoted to her
position when she left. I was afraid to
report this mistreatment because after all that I had experienced, I feared
retaliation and believed that I might be the next target.
13. I had originally been very interested in advancing into a management career at Wal-Mart. However, I observed, and I had been told by several members of management, that relocation was required for entry into the management training program. Because I was caring for a young child, mostly on my own, this was not a possibility for me. This was the main deterrent to pursuing entry into the management training program.
14. I resigned in April 2001 while out on medical leave for diabetes. I now care for my daughter full-time.
I declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States and State of Tennessee that the foregoing is true and correct.
This Declaration was signed
by me on ______________________, 2003, at Moscow, Tennessee.
_____________________________________
Lorie Williams