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, 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 MJJDECLARATION OF SANDRA STEVENSON IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION
I, Sandra Stevenson, 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 am a 50 year old woman who worked at Sam's Club 8184 in Gurnee, Illinois from November 1996 until June 2000. I currently am employed with the United States Postal Service where I work part-time as a substitute mail carrier. I have worked for the U.S. Postal Service since August 2001.
3. When I joined Sam's Club I intended to stay with the company until I retired. I thought it was a place where if I worked hard and performed well, I would advance and succeed in the company. I also BELIEVED I could make a difference. My experience, however, reflected a different reality.
4. My first assignment at Sam's Club was in the position of cashier. I worked as a cashier for approximately six weeks and then requested to be transferred to the night shift where I worked as a receiver in order that I could earn additional income during the day painting and wallpapering homes. Furthermore, the night shift paid .50 more per hour.
5. In approximately October 1997, it became apparent to me that women were not welcome in management positions. Most of the managers in the Gurnee store were men and it was referred to as the "Boy's Club". I continued to work hard in the hopes that I could somehow get past the obvious limits on women's advancement opportunities in the store.
6. In the Fall of 1997, management decided to fill the position of overnight supervisor, which had been open for several months. The job was not posted and I heard about it through word of mouth. The acting General Manager James Allen, Grocery Team Leader Aaron Tinsley and Team Leader, Lauren Young Loderek informally interviewed me after I verbally expressed interest in the position. I was promoted to overnight supervisor in approximately December 1997.
7. The overnight supervisor job gave me the opportunity to supervise 14-16 employees all over the store. I had principal responsibility for insuring that the store was prepared for next day's business. However, I was repeatedly understaffed which made my job much harder. Despite repeated requests to General Managers, Chris Poulin General Manager Todd Christian, Merchandise Manager Chester Roberts for additional staff, many times I worked with insufficient staff. This made it very difficult for me to perform my job. I was particularly upset when I received a written coaching because of the condition of the store in the mornings. I made every effort to complete all necessary work during my shift and I was unaware of any efforts management took to provide me with sufficient staff on the overnight crew.
8. However, despite these challenges, I continued to hope that I had a future with the company and did everything I could to perform the duties of my job. In mid-to-late1998, I repeatedly verbally expressed my interest in becoming a manager to General Manager Poulin, Merchandise Manager Roberts and Merchandise Manager Brent Fairmen..
9. I became more and more frustrated because not only was I not receiving support to effectively perform my job as overnight supervisor but I was also getting the run around about promotional opportunities.
10. In the Spring of 1999, it was apparent to me that if I intended to be promoted I had to transfer to the day shift and informed Acting General Manager Orences Christian, and Merchandise Manager Jennifer Glowiak that I wanted to do so. Despite my continued efforts to be promoted, I observed that male partners were being promoted to positions for which they were not qualified or for which they were less qualified than I. For example, in approximately October or November 1999, I observed as Acting General Manager Orences Christian told Jonathan Williams, a stocker in the freezer/cooler area that he would make a good team leader in the produce area although Mr. Williams had no prior experience in the department and no supervisory experience. I was very upset that Acting General Manager Christian had not offered the position to me even though he was aware that I wanted to transfer to the day shift and wanted a promotion and pulled him aside to tell him so. Not surprisingly, Mr. Williams did not stay in the position for very long and, eventually, resigned from the store.
11. Also, I watched as male partners such as David Jordan and Kelly Walker were groomed for management while I was at a complete stand still despite my supervisory experience and obvious interest in promotion. Kelly Walker was promoted to Team Leader for Hardlines in 1999 although he had only worked in the Tire Mounting Area and had no prior experience in Hardlines. He was, eventually, selected for New Coach Development, Sam's Club's management training program. Kelly's brother, Randy Walker whom I had supervised when he worked overnight was promoted to the Team Leader for the freezer/cooler section although he had no prior supervisory experience in the area. I was not offered any of these open positions despite my prior experience as overnight supervisor and obvious interest in promotion.
12. By the end of 1999, I had had it. At the end of 1999, or the beginning of 2000, a Produce and Floral Team Leader position was available. It was not posted and I verbally expressed interest in it to Merchandise Manager Jennifer Glowiak. I told her that I wanted to be the next Produce Team Leader or Produce Manager, that I had worked hard to become overnight supervisor and that when I started with Sam's Club I had planned to retire from the company. I also informed Merchandise Manager Glowiak during a meeting in January 2000 that either I would be considered for the Produce Team Leader position or I was going to leave the company. A few days later, Merchandise Manager Glowiak called me at home on my day off to offer me the Produce and Floral Team Leader position.
13. After I transferred to Produce, Floral Lead in January 2000, Merchandise Manager Glowiak informed me that that I needed to become familiar with the department and how it ran in order to be promoted to Produce Manager. She also told me that General Manager Todd Christian and Fresh District Operations Manager Brian Grossi would make the decision about whether to promote me to Produce Manager. Shortly after I transferred to produce, it was apparent to me that management had no intention of promoting me to Produce Manager. Whenever I asked a manager about promotion to Produce Manager, I, again, got the runaround. Merchandise Manager Lauren Loaderek joined the management team in February 2000. She told me in the Spring of 2000 that it was up to Fresh District Operations Manager Grossi and General Manager Christian. General Manager Christian said it was up to Fresh District Operations Manager Grossi and District Operations Manager Greene. Every time I attempted to talk to a manager in the store, each would tell me that it was up to someone else. No one seemed to be able to give me straightforward answer.
14. In late Spring of 2000, once again, I, repeatedly, verbally expressed my interest in becoming promoted to the position of Produce Manager. I specifically called District Operations Manager Greene on the telephone to exercise the Open Door Policy. However, Mr. Greene never returned my call. I was also discouraged from using the Open Door when Area Bakery Manager Dave Ashmore advised me not to go over General Manager Christian’s head. I performed many of the responsibilities of Produce Manager while I was in the position of produce and floral lead. The department was seriously understaffed and at times I was forced to work off the clock to complete my job duties throughout the time I was team leader. Despite this obstacle, I was able to increase the department's percentage of total store sales and led a company-wide contest in the sale of oranges for a number of weeks.
15. Despite these accomplishments, management continued not to support me in my efforts to perform my job duties as team lead. I finally got the message that I had no future with Sam's during Easter weekend of 2000. At the time, I had one partner in produce who worked in the afternoons until closing, and only 3 times per week. Because of the holiday weekend, I had ordered $12,000 of produce which meant there was a large volume of produce to put out in the department for sale. On Good Friday, General Manager Christian fired the only partner I had in the department after he saw him talking to another partner on the floor before he clocked in. Manager Christian did not discuss it with me prior to firing the partner and made no effort to find a replacement for him. As a result, I had no one to work in the department on the holiday weekend. I was forced to load the produce myself and worked off the clock with management's knowledge to get the job done. The incident was particularly frustrating and upsetting because I had been scheduled to attend the wake of a family member, which I was forced to miss in order to complete loading produce.
16. I finally had gotten the message. My spirit was broken and on June 21, 2000, I resigned from Sam's Club.
17. During my employment at Sam's, open positions were not posted. The only time I can recall any position being posted were the two instances in which I posted for open positions in produce and floral when I was team lead. In all other instances, open positions were communicated by word of mouth.
18. I also worked in the Evanston Sam's Club in the latter part of 1999 and the Vernon Hills in 1999 temporarily. I had the opportunity to observe how each one operated and observed that they operated the same way as the Gurnee Club.
19. I declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States and State of ______that the foregoing is true and correct.
This Declaration was signed by me on ______, 2003, at ______.
______
Sandra Stevenson, Declaramt
S:\SHARE\LEGAL\Walmart\Declarations\SandraStevenson Class Cert dec.doc
DECLARATION OF SANDRA STEVENSON IN SUPPORT OF Case No. C-01-2252 MJJ
PLAINTIFF S’ MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION