Odle v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc

Filing 1

COMPLAINT WITH JURY DEMAND against Wal-Mart Stores Inc filed by Stephanie Odle. Summons(es) not requested at this time. In each Notice of Electronic Filing, the judge assignment is indicated, and a link to the Judges Copy Requirements is provided. The court reminds the filer that any required copy of this and future documents must be delivered to the judge, in the manner prescribed, within three business days of filing. (Filing fee $350; Receipt number 0539-4207713) Unless exempted, attorneys who are not admitted to practice in the Northern District of Texas should seek admission promptly. Forms, instructions, and exemption information may be found at www.txnd.uscourts.gov, or by clicking here: Attorney Information - Bar Membership (Attachments: # 1 Cover Sheet, # 2 Exhibit(s), # 3 Exhibit(s), # 4 Exhibit(s), # 5 Exhibit(s)) (Gillespie, Hal) Modified filer on 10/31/2011 (axm).

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
DALLAS DIVISION
STEPHANIE ODLE,
on behalf of herself and
all others similarly situated,

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Plaintiff,
v.
WAL-MART STORES, INC.,
Defendant.

CIVIL ACTION NO.________________
JURY TRIAL DEMAND
CLASS ACTION

PLAINTIFF’S ORIGINAL COMPLAINT AND JURY DEMAND
Plaintiff Stephanie Odle (“Plaintiff”), on behalf of herself and all others similarly
situated, alleges, upon personal knowledge as to herself and upon information and belief as to
other matters, as follows:
I. INTRODUCTION
1.

Over ten years ago,the Dukes v. Wal-Mart class action was commenced as a

national class against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the largest retailer in the world and the largest
private employer in the United States. The action alleged that female employees in Wal-Mart
and Sam’s Club retail stores were discriminated against based on their gender, with respect to
pay and promotion to management track positions, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq.
2.

In 2004, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California

certified a national class of female employees challenging retail store pay and management
promotion policies and practices under Fed. R. Civ. Pro 23(b)(2). The United States Supreme
Court reversed that class certification order on June 20, 2011. The high court, issuing new
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guidelines for class actions and Title VII employment discrimination cases, held that the national
class could not be certified, based on the facts it outlined in its opinion. The Supreme Court did
not rule on the merits of the action, but only ruled that the class as certified could not proceed. It
did not preclude prosecution of a class that was consistent with its newly announced guidelines
and standards.
3.

Accordingly, this Complaint, brought by a Dukes class member and former

plaintiff, alleges claims on behalf of a class of present and former female Wal-Mart retail store
employees who have been subjected to gender discrimination as a result of specific policies and
practices in Wal-Mart’s regions located in whole or in part in Texas (“Texas Regions”).
Plaintiffs allege gender discrimination as follows:
a. Denial of equal opportunities for promotion to management track positions up
to and including Co-Manager.
4.

The class membership period commences on December 26, 1998, 300 days prior

to the earliest class EEOC charge by a former class member. Based on evidence produced in
discovery in this matter, interviews with class members and witnesses, and publicly available
information, plaintiff alleges that the challenged practices, and therefore the class period, extends
at least until June 2004, and, on information and belief, she alleges that members of the class
have been denied equal opportunities for promotion through the present.

With renewed

discovery, plaintiff will plead more specific time periods for the claims.
5.

Plaintiffs allege that defendant maintained a pattern or practice of gender

discrimination in promotion and that its promotion policies and practices had a disparate impact
not justified by business necessity on its female employees whose claims arise in Wal-Mart’s
regions that include stores located in Texas. As used in this Complaint, Wal-Mart’s Texas

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Regions and Texas Districts refer to those Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club regions and districts that
encompass, in whole or in part, Wal-Mart’s Texas retail stores.
6.

This action seeks an end to Wal-Mart’s discriminatory policies and practices in

the Texas Regions, make whole relief for the class, and punitive damages.
II. JURISDICTION AND VENUE
7.

Plaintiff’s claims arise under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C.

§§ 2000e, et seq. This Court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f),
28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343(a)(4).
8.

Venue is proper in this district pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f) and 28 U.S.C. §

1391(b) & (c). Named Plaintiff’s claims arose in Texas. Many of the acts complained of
occurred in this judicial district and gave rise to the claims alleged. Wal-Mart currently operates
451 Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Clubs in Texas where it employs more than 140,000 workers. It
operates at least 34 stores in the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.
III. PARTIES
9. Plaintiff Stephanie Odle is a woman and a resident of Norman, Oklahoma. Stephanie
Odle was hired by Wal-Mart on November 21, 1991, as an hourly associate to work at the Sam’s
Club in Lubbock, Texas.

She was successively transferred to Sam’s Clubs in Dallas, Texas;

Yuba City, California; Vacaville, California; Sherman, Texas and Lubbock, Texas. She worked
in Texas in Store No. 6530, in Sam’s Club District 27, Sam’s Club Region 2 in Sherman, Texas
and Store No. 8272 in Sam’s Club District 47, Region 1 in Lubbock, Texas.
10.

Defendant Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is a Delaware corporation with stores throughout

Texas. Its corporate headquarters is located in Bentonville, Arkansas. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

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operates retail stores doing business as Wal-Mart Discount Stores, Wal-Mart Supercenters, WalMart Neighborhood Markets and Sam’s Clubs Stores (collectively “Wal-Mart”) in Texas.
IV. CLASS ALLEGATIONS
11.

Plaintiff brings this action pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil

Procedure on behalf of: a) all women who are currently employed or will be employed at any
Wal-Mart retail store in a Texas Wal-Mart Region (“Injunctive Relief Class) and b) all women
employed at any Wal-Mart retail store in a Texas Region at any time from December 26, 1998
(“Monetary Relief Class”), who have been or may be subject to the following policies and
practices:
i. Denial of promotion to management track positions up to and including CoManager.
The proposed classes do not include Store Managers or licensed Pharmacists.
12.

Plaintiff is a member of the classes she seeks to represent.

13.

The members of the classes are sufficiently numerous that joinder of all members

is impracticable. Plaintiff is informed and believes that the Injunctive Relief Class and the
Monetary Relief Class each exceed 45,000 women.
14.

There are questions of law and fact common to the classes and these questions

predominate over individual questions. Such questions include, without limitation, whether
defendant, through its Texas Region managers with final authority to make the challenged
decisions, has engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination in management track promotions
against its female employees in its Texas Regions, whether there are statistical patterns adverse
to female employees in management track promotions in defendant’s Texas Regions, whether
defendant’s policies in its Texas Regions have an adverse impact upon the classes and, if so,

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whether this impact can be justified by business necessity; and whether injunctive relief and
punitive damage relief for the classes are warranted.
15.

The claims alleged by the plaintiff are typical of the claims of the classes. Plaintiff

worked in Wal-Mart’s Texas Regions and has been subjected to the discriminatory policies and
practices alleged.
16.

The named plaintiff will fairly and adequately represent and protect the interests

of the classes.
17.

The Injunctive Relief Class is properly maintainable under Federal Rule of Civil

Procedure Rule 23(b)(2) because defendant has acted or refused to act on grounds generally
applicable to this class, thereby making appropriate final injunctive relief or corresponding
declarative relief with respect to this class as a whole.
18.

Class-wide liability and punitive damages liability under the theories advanced in

this action are properly certified under Rule 23(c)(4) for both classes because such claims
present only common issues, the resolution of which would advance the interests of the parties in
an efficient manner.
19.

The Monetary Relief Class is properly certified under Rule 23(b)(3) because

questions of law and fact common to the class predominate over any questions affecting only
individual members, and a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and
efficient adjudication of this case.
V. ORGANIZATIONAL AND STORE STRUCTURE WITHIN TEXAS REGIONS
20.

Store Formats – Within the Texas Regions, Wal-Mart has operated in four

primary formats:

Wal-Mart Discount Stores, Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets, Wal-Mart

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Supercenters and Sam’s Clubs. The basic organizational structure for these stores has been the
same across the Texas Regions.
21.

Common Hourly Jobs Within Stores - All stores within the Texas Regions have

used common job titles and job descriptions, and the same job hierarchies. Although the WalMart Stores and Sam’s Clubs use somewhat different nomenclature, their personnel and human
resources policies, job titles and hierarchies, and compensation and promotion policies have been
virtually identical.
22.

Most Common Positions - While there are numerous job titles at Wal-Mart, the

majority of hourly employees have worked as sales workers, cashiers, department managers and
stockers. The most common management position is assistant manager.
23.

Common Department Structure - Stores within the Texas Regions have been

divided into numerous departments, which have been staffed by hourly paid employees. Some
departments have been designated as specialty departments. The departmental structure is the
same throughout the stores in the Texas Regions.
24.

Common Management Jobs – With the exception of Support Manager,

management positions within the Texas Regions are salaried.

Each store has Assistant

Managers. Larger stores have had one or more Co-Managers who supervise Assistant Managers
and other staff.

All stores have Store Managers who are in charge of the store. Specialty

department managers, who report to Store Managers, also report to District and Regional
Specialty Managers above the store level.
25.

District Organization – Until 2006, stores within the Texas Regions were grouped

into districts which were supervised by District Managers and typically included six to eight
stores. Thereafter, districts have been expanded to include more stores.

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26.

District Managers’ Role - District Managers within the Texas Regions have been

responsible for ensuring store compliance with company policies and culture. District Managers
have been based in their districts and spend their time visiting and monitoring the stores in their
districts and reviewing all facets of the store operations. District Managers also have made or
approved compensation and promotion decisions for the stores.
27.

Regional Organization - Districts are grouped into regions, headed by a Regional

Vice President. As of 2003, each region contained approximately 80 - 85 stores. As of 2003,
there were 4 Wal-Mart regions and 2 Sam’s Club region that encompassed stores within Texas.
These regions together included, as of 2003, over 62 districts. Most of these districts were
comprised entirely of Texas stores.
28.

Role of Regional Vice President – The Regional Vice Presidents in Texas Regions

monitor and implement corporate and regional policies regarding compensation and promotion.
Regional Vice Presidents regularly meet with District Managers and receive weekly reports from
District Managers about the activities in the Texas Region stores they supervise.
29.

Regional Personnel Managers’ Role – Each Texas Region has had a Regional

Personnel Manager, who assists the Texas Regional Vice Presidents and District Managers in
making pay and promotion decisions for employees working in the Texas Region stores.
30.

Changes to Texas Regions and Districts – Since 2003, Wal-Mart may have

adjusted the borders of these regions and districts.
31.

Divisional Organization – The Regional Vice President reports to a Divisional

Senior Vice President.
VI. PROMOTION DISCRIMINATION WITHIN TEXAS REGIONS
32.

Management Track Positions Below Assistant Manager Positions - Within Texas

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Regions, Support Managers are the highest level hourly supervisory positions and assume the
duties of Assistant Managers in their absence. At Sam’s Club, Salaried Area Managers serve
similar functions. Employees in these positions are often groomed for further advancement. The
vast majority of Support Manager and Area Manager vacancies have not been posted. There has
been no formal application process for selection for these positions or job related criteria for
making selections of those to be promoted.
33. Promotion to Management Trainee – Entry into the Management Trainee Program is
a requirement for advancement into Assistant Manager and other salaried management positions.
Prior to 2003, there was no application process or job posting for Management Trainee positions.
Hourly employees in the Texas Regions were not provided any information regarding how to
enter management, or what the requirements or qualifications were for entering management, or
how to apply for the Management Trainee Program.
34. Criteria for Promotion to Management Trainee – District Managers, assisted by
Regional Personnel Managers, select management trainees.

Within Texas Regions, these

managers have been provided uniform guidelines setting minimal eligibility criteria for
promotion into the Management Trainee Program, including minimum tenure, age (18 years or
older), absence of current “active” discipline, satisfactory recent performance evaluation and
willingness to relocate, but no job related criteria have been provided for making selections
among those who meet the minimum criteria. Employees selected into the Management Training
program are required to transfer from their stores and often their districts as they enter training
and Assistant Manager positions, subject to very limited exceptions which must be approved by
the Regional Personnel Manager and Regional Vice President
35. Promotion to Co-Manager - Within Texas Regions, Regional Vice Presidents select

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Co-Managers subject to approval by the Divisional Senior Vice President. The majority of CoManager promotions are transfers across district lines. Co-Manager openings have rarely been
posted and there has been no formal application process for such positions. While there have
been minimal eligibility requirements for promotion to co-manager such as satisfactory
performance and willingness to relocate, there are no job related criteria for making selections
among those who meet the minimum criteria or determining which store to assign to a comanager.
36. In each of Texas’s Regions and Districts management track promotional policies and
practices have denied interested and qualified females equal access to promotional opportunities
because promotion opportunities are not posted, there is not an open application system, and
employees are not informed of the criteria for promotion. Moreover, Managers in Texas Regions
do not require or use valid, job related factors in making the promotion selections within the
Texas Regions. Nor does Wal-Mart specify the weight that should be accorded any requirements
for promotion. As a consequence, qualified women were denied equal access to promotions
because of their gender.
37. Management Trainee Registration of Interest - In January 2003, Wal-Mart instituted
within the Texas Regions an online application process for entry into the Management Training
Program. In order to be considered as an applicant, employees were required to agree to a set of
conditions, many of which had the purpose and effect of discouraging women from seeking such
positions.

Potential applicants for entry level store management positions were required to

accept the conditions that, as Assistant Managers, they would travel for up to six weeks in
duration, be subject to a varied and not regular schedule, including work on scheduled days off,
work during days, overnights, weekends and holidays, scheduled days off not consecutive and

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rotated weekly, and scheduled hours changed or increased without notice. None of these
requirements is justified by business necessity, and it is untrue that Assistant Managers must
normally travel up to six weeks. Failure to accept all of these conditions precluded consideration
as an applicant, which has resulted in the exclusion of interested and qualified women from the
management training program.
38. No Documentation of Promotion Decisions - Managers have not documented, and
Wal-Mart had not tracked, the reason for selecting a particular employee for a management
promotion. Managers have not documented, and Wal-Mart has not tracked, which employees
have been denied consideration for promotion because of their inability to comply with
relocation, travel or scheduling requirements for promotion.
39. External Statistics - Wal-Mart has had a significantly lower percentage of female
managers in its Texas Regions compared to its largest competitors.
40. Internal Statistics on Promotion Rates - Female employees in Texas Regions and
Districts, including the regions and districts in which the named plaintiff worked, have been
much less likely than their male counterparts to receive promotion to management track
positions including Support and Area Managers, Management Trainee and Assistant Manager,
and Co-Manager positions, despite the fact that they possess equal or better qualifications than
their male counterparts.
41. Internal Statistics on Time to Promotion - Female employees must wait significantly
longer to be promoted into management track positions than men with equal or lesser
qualifications. This is true in each of Texas’s Regions and Districts, including the Regions and
Districts in which the named plaintiff worked.
42. Management Knowledge of Promotion Discrimination - Wal-Mart management has

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long known about gender disparities in promotion in Texas and has failed to take any remedial
action.
43. Reporting by Gender - Every store, district, and region in the Texas Regions
regularly compiles and reports to corporate headquarters the gender composition of its hourly
and managerial workforce, employee turnover, exceptions to promotion policies, job posting
data, entry into management training programs and other data. District Managers, Regional
Personnel Managers and Regional Vice Presidents for the Texas Regions receive these reports.
44. People Division Reports - Wal-Mart’s People division regularly prepares reports for
senior management summarizing promotion and incumbency rates for store management
positions by gender, and reports are regularly made to the Board of Directors.
45. Store Visits – District Managers, Regional Personnel Managers and Regional Vice
Presidents in the Texas Regions regularly visit stores and are aware of the gender composition of
the workforce.
46. Warnings About Discrimination - Senior management officials, senior People
division officials, and outside consultants have warned Wal-Mart that women are not sufficiently
represented in management positions, that women are paid less than male employees in the same
jobs, and that Wal-Mart lags behind its competitors in the promotion of women to management
positions.
47. Discriminatory Practices Identified - These officials and consultants have also
identified policies and practices at Wal-Mart that have an adverse impact on its female
employees, including lack of consistent job posting, the requirement of relocation as a condition
of entry into and promotion through management, reliance on stereotypes in making pay and
promotion decisions, lack of objective criteria for making promotion decisions, and lack of

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consistent and reliable scheduling for management level employees.
48. Relocation Unnecessary - Wal-Mart’s founder, Sam Walton, conceded in 1992 that
Wal-Mart’s policies, particularly its relocation requirement, were an unnecessary barrier to
female advancement, yet this policy remained in place thereafter.
49. Changes Blocked - Senior managers also blocked policy changes that would have
reduced the impact of Wal-Mart’s discriminatory policies including posting of managerial
vacancies.
50. Failure to Analyze - Wal-Mart had never studied nor analyzed whether any of its
practices were consistent with business necessity or whether less discriminatory alternatives to
these policies and practices could be adopted.
51. Adverse Impact of Promotion Policies - Wal-Mart’s promotion policies, including its
failure to require managers to base promotion decisions for individual employees on job related
criteria, have had a statistically significant adverse impact upon its female employees in the
Texas Regions. Because reasons for promotion decisions are not documented, and Wal-Mart
does not create or maintain records which identify the impact of separate components of its
promotion policies and practices, its promotion decision-making process is not capable of
separation for analysis.
VII. WAL-MART MANAGERS RELY ON DISCRIMINATORY STEREOTYPES
52. In the absence of job-related compensation and promotion criteria, Wal-Mart’s
managers rely on discriminatory stereotypes and biased views about women in making pay and
promotion decisions in the Texas Regions and Districts.
53. A 1998 survey of Wal-Mart managers revealed that there was a “good ole boy
philosophy” at Wal-Mart, that many managers were “close minded” about diversity in the

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workplace, and that some District Managers “don’t seem personally comfortable with women in
leadership roles.”
54. A committee of Wal-Mart’s few female executives, disbanded before this action was
filed, noted that “stereotypes limit the opportunities offered to women.”
55. All Wal-Mart Store Managers, including Texas Store Managers, have been required
to attend training programs at the company’s Walton Institute. These managers were advised at
the Institute that the reason there are few senior female managers at Wal-Mart is because men
were “more aggressive in achieving those levels of responsibility” than women. Managers were
cautioned that efforts to promote women could lead to the selection of less qualified women over
more qualified men.
56. On January 24, 2004, at a meeting of all Wal-Mart’s District Managers presided over
by Wal-Mart Stores’ CEO Thomas Coughlin, the District Managers were told that they were the
key to running the stores: “[y]ou are the culture.” The key to success was described as “single
focus to get the job done. . . . women tend to be better at information processing. Men are better
at focus single objective.” The District Managers were instructed to create a “culture of
execution” and a “culture of results” as they picked “[f]uture leaders.”
57. In Sherman, Texas, the Director of Operations Mr. Anderson approved an idea
submitted by Store Manager Bill Smithson identical to an idea Named Plaintiff Stephanie Odle
had proposed to Mr. Anderson a few months earlier, which he had rejected. When Named
Plaintiff Stephanie Odle asked Mr. Smithson how he had convinced Mr. Anderson to change his
mind when he had only recently rejected the suggestion, Mr. Smithson responded that it was “a
man thing.”
58. On another occasion, Mr. Smithson declared to Named Plaintiff Stephanie Odle that

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as the General Manager, he could do whatever he wanted to do.
59. Store Manager of Store # 535 in Abilene, Texas, Tom Van Vraken justified the
paying less to a female supervisor than a male employee on the ground that the male employee
“had a family to support” and dismissed the female employees complaints by informing her that
she should just be happy with the money she made.
60. In approximately late 2000 or early 2001, Store Manager Mark Antilley at Wal-Mart
Supercenter #2862 informed one female employee seeking entry into the management training
program that women have to be “bitches” to survive in Wal-Mart management.
61. At the Hulen, Texas store, Assistant Manager David White and Store Manager John
Jurca justified directing a female employee who expressed interest in becoming salaried
management towards a front end position because as a woman she was better suited for the front
end.
62. When this same woman complained to Assistant Manager David White and Store
Manager John Jurca about having to train her own supervisor, Mr. White told her that she should
be happy with what she had, a Customer Service Manager position.
63. Store Manager Lorenzo Nava at store #2612 in El Paso, Texas justified the disparate
treatment of a female Co-Manager by District Manager Rick Klein as something that was to be
expected since the female Co-Manager was not part of the “good ‘ole boy’” network, unlike her
male counterparts.
64. Management at store #3452 in Houston, Texas justified paying women less than men
on the ground that men needed to make more money because they had families to feed.
65. Management directed female employees to decorate the store on the ground that
female employees were “crafty”.

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66. At Store #5021 in Dallas, Texas, Store manager Keith Littlejohn informed a female
back door receiving manger that it was a job for a man.
67. Other Texas managers justified denying promotions to women or paying them less
than their male employees because of perceived family obligations of the women and male
responsibility to support their families or because of their presumed inability to relocate.
VIII. WAL-MART’S INEFFECTIVE ANTI-DISCRIMINATION EFFORTS
68. Prior to the filing of this action, Wal-Mart had no meaningful policies or practices to
hold managers accountable, financially or otherwise, to equal employment and diversity policies
and goals
69. Starting in 2000, Wal-Mart asked District Managers to set diversity “goals” for
advancement of women in management. The goals were based on each manager’s individual
views on what was attainable and were not tied to any objective measures of availability or
qualifications. Prior to 2004, failure to meet diversity goals had no financial or other
consequence for managers.
70. As late as 2003, Wal-Mart Stores’ CEO Coughlin was not aware of any diversity
goals or whether managers had met such goals. Many Store Managers were also unaware of the
existence of any diversity goals.
71. Until at least 2003, there had never been any diversity goals set for individual stores,
or for any compensation practices.
IX. ALLEGATIONS OF NAMED PLAINTIFF
STEPHANIE ODLE
72. Stephanie Odle was hired by Wal-Mart on November 21, 1991, as an hourly associate
to work at the Sam’s Club in Lubbock, Texas. She was successively transferred to Sam’s Clubs
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in Dallas, Texas; Yuba City, California; and Vacaville, California.
73.

On September 3, 1994, while employed at the Vacaville, California, Sam’s Club,

Ms. Odle was promoted to Assistant Manager and was assigned to the Sam’s Club in Roseville,
California, as a Manager-in-Training. Ms. Odle was then assigned to the Sam’s Club in
Sacramento, California, where she worked as an Assistant Manager. Ms. Odle was subsequently
transferred in succession to the Sam’s Clubs in Riverside, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; and
back to Sacramento, California.
74.

In October 1998, Ms. Odle was transferred to the Sam’s Club in Sherman, Texas.

While at this Sam’s Club, she was led to believe by the Regional Director of Operations, who
was in charge of the Wal-Mart Region covering Texas and Oklahoma, that she would be
promoted to the position of Co-Manager of the Sam’s Club store in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
75.

On May 14, 1999, to insure that Ms. Odle was not promoted to the Co- Manager

position at the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sam’s Club, she was discriminated against by management at
the Sherman, Texas, Sam’s Club store by being wrongfully suspended for five days concerning a
legitimate refund she had made to a customer. On or about May 19, 1999, Ms. Odle was
informed by management at the Sherman, Texas, Sam’s Club store that she would not be
promoted to the position of Co-Manager of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sam’s Club, and that said
position was being given to a male manager from Florida.
76. On May 20, 1999, the management at the Sherman, Texas, Sam’s Club store, gave
Ms. Odle the most severe form of discipline at Sam’s Club short of termination, even though
management at the Sherman, Texas, Sam’s Club store knew that she did not do anything to
warrant such discipline, and management at the Sherman, Texas, Sam’s Club store never
disciplined male employees in this fashion.

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77.

Also on May 20, 1999, the male managers at the Sherman, Texas, Sam’s Club

store wrongfully denied Ms. Odle access to the Sherman, Texas, Sam’s Club store or to the
Sherman, Texas Sam’s Club store’s employees and ordered her against her will to transfer from
the Sam’s Club in Sherman, Texas, to the Sam’s Club in Lubbock, Texas.
78. Ms. Odle followed the orders of the male managers in the Sherman, Texas, Sam’s
Club store and moved to Lubbock, Texas so that she could continue her employment as an
assistant manager for Sam’s Club in Lubbock, Texas. Thereafter, Ms. Odle performed her duties
as an assistant manager at the Sam’s Club store in Lubbock, Texas in an exemplary fashion and
regularly informed her direct supervisor, the general manager of the Lubbock, Texas Sam’s Club
store that she wanted to be promoted to Co-Manager or Store Manager of a Sam’s Club store as
soon as there was an opening for such a position.
79.

In early October, 1999 Ms. Odle learned that the three other assistant managers at

the Sam’s Club store in Lubbock, Texas, who were all male, were being given a skills
assessment test which is a critical step in the Sam’s Club promotion process for being considered
for future promotions to either Co-Manager or Store Manager of a Sam’s Club store.
80. After learning the male managers were being given the skills assessment test, Ms.
Odle requested of her general manager at the Sam’s Club Lubbock, Texas store that she be given
the same opportunity to take the skills assessment test. Her Store Manager denied her request
informing her that he only had three tests and they were being given to the three male assistant
managers.
81.

On or about October 6, 1999, Ms. Odle complained to management at the Sam’s

Club store in Lubbock, Texas that she was being denied an opportunity to take a skills

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assessment test critical for future promotion that was being administered to three male managers
because she was a female.
82. On October 16, 1999, Ms. Odle was training three hourly Sam’s Club employees with
respect to a new store procedure. During the training, a $13.74 accounting adjustment occurred.
Ms. Odle notified accounting and the acting general manager of the adjustment, and neither
expressed any concern.

Two days later, even though management at the Sam’s Club store in

Lubbock, Texas knew that the cash register discrepancy was a harmless training adjustment
causing no loss to the company, management, in order to make available a managerial position
for a male manager from Arizona, wrongfully suspended Ms. Odle and placed her on
administrative leave.
83. On October 19, 1999, Ms. Odle was wrongfully terminated by the General Manager
of the Sam’s Club store in Lubbock, Texas, and by the Regional Director of Operations, who
was in charge of the Region covering Texas and Oklahoma for Sam’s Club.
84.

On October 22, 1999, Ms. Odle’s attorney filed a charge of discrimination against

Sam’s Club with the El Paso Area Office of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission and tele-faxed a copy of this Charge of Discrimination to Sam’s Club headquarters
in Bentonville, Arkansas, regarding the gender discrimination perpetrated against her by Sam’s
Club. A copy of this charge is attached hereto as Exhibit A and incorporated by reference.
Despite being briefly reinstated pending further “investigation” Ms. Odle was again wrongfully
discharged on October 29, 1999, and was replaced by the male manager who was transferred to
the Lubbock, Texas store from a Sam’s Club in Arizona.
85.

Ms. Odle filed amended EEOC charges on January 4, 2000, and April 3, 2000,

copies of which are attached hereto as Exhibits B and C and incorporated by reference. On or

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about May 31, 2001, the EEOC issued a notice of right to sue on these charges, attached hereto
as Exhibit D and incorporated by reference, and an action was timely commenced thereafter.
86.

Stephanie Odle was discriminated against because of her gender, female, in

violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, when she was subjected to
adverse terms and conditions of employment, denied training opportunities for promotions and
denied a promotion.
87.

Women employees of the stores operated by Wal-Mart in Texas are

discriminated against because of their gender, female, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, as amended.
88. Stephanie Odle brings this charge on behalf of herself and all other women who are
similarly situated.
X. CLAIM FOR RELIEF (Violation of Title VII)
89. Plaintiff incorporates Paragraphs 1 through 88.
90. This claim is brought on behalf of the Named Plaintiff and the classes she seeks to
represent.
91. On or about October 22, 1999, January 4, 2000 and April 3, 2000, Named Plaintiff
Stephanie Odle filed charges of sex discrimination against Wal-Mart with the United States
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Ms. Odle thereafter received a right to sue notice
and commenced this action as a named plaintiff in a timely fashion. From the filing of her
EEOC complaints through the initiation of this action, the class-wide nature of Ms. Odle’s
charges has been communicated to defendant.
92. In June 2004, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
certified this case as a national class action, a decision that was largely upheld by the Ninth
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Circuit Court of Appeals en banc. On June 20, 2011, the Supreme Court reversed the Ninth
Circuit decision. During the pendency of the former certified class, time periods for filing
EEOC charges and subsequent litigation for all former class members were tolled. The District
Court for the Northern District of California subsequently held that claims of class members
would be tolled during the pendency of the national class action until the following dates: for
former class members who had received an EEOC right to sue based on a claim encompassed
by the former class: October 28, 2011; all other former class members in deferral states would
have until May 25, 2012 to file EEOC charges based on conduct encompassed by the former
class definition.
93. The foregoing conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Wal-Mart
has engaged in a pattern or practice of discriminating against its female employees in making
management track promotion decisions in its Texas Regions.
94. Wal-Mart has maintained a system for making decisions about promotions that has
had an adverse impact on its female employees in its Texas Regions. Its management track
promotion policies: the absence of an open application process and job posting its relocation
and travel requirements for management positions, its scheduling requirements which deny
managers a consistent schedule, and its failure to apply job-related objective criteria for making
management selections have all individually and collectively caused this adverse impact on
female employees in promotions.
95. Wal-Mart has failed in Texas to create or maintain the data that would allow analysis
of the impact of each of these policies and practices individually. Nor does Wal-Mart specify the
weight that should be according to each of the requirements for promotion. Wal-Mart’s
promotion policies and procedures are thus not capable of separation for analysis, and

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accordingly the entire decision-making process for promotion decisions may each be analyzed as
one employment practice. 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(k)(1)(B)(i).
96. Wal-Mart’s promotion policies are not job related or consistent with business
necessity. Wal-Mart’s own consultants and human resources staff have proposed job posting,
elimination of relocation requirements, adoption of more consistent and reliable scheduling, and
the use of more objective criteria for management promotions. Adopting these policies would
have resulted in less discriminatory impact upon female employees while serving Wal-Mart’s
business needs more effectively than its current practices.
97. Wal-Mart’s discriminatory practices described above have denied female employees
promotional opportunities to which they are entitled, which has resulted in the loss of past and
future wages and other job benefits.
98. Plaintiffs request relief as provided in the Prayer for Relief below.
XI. RELIEF ALLEGATIONS
1. Plaintiff and the Injunctive Relief Class she represents have no plain, adequate or
complete remedy at law to redress the wrongs alleged herein, and the injunctive relief sought in
this action is the only means of securing complete and adequate relief.

Plaintiff and the

Injunctive Relief Class she represents are now suffering and will continue to suffer irreparable
injury from Defendant’s discriminatory acts and omissions.
2. The actions on the part of Defendant have caused and continue to cause Plaintiff and
all Monetary Relief class members substantial losses in earnings, promotional opportunities and
other employment benefits, in an amount to be determined according to proof.
3. Defendant acted or failed to act as herein alleged with malice or reckless indifference
to the protected rights of Plaintiff and Monetary Relief class members. Plaintiff and class
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members are thus entitled to recover punitive damages in an amount to be determined according
to proof.
XII. PRAYER FOR RELIEF
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff and the proposed classes pray for relief as follows:
1)

Certification of the Injunctive Relief and Monetary Relief Classes as class

actions under Rule 23 (b)(2) and (3),and designation of the Named Plaintiff Stephanie Odle as
representative of the Injunctive Relief class and as representatives of the Monetary Relief class
and their counsel of record as Class Counsel for both classes;
2)

All damages which the Named Plaintiff and the Monetary Relief Class have

sustained as a result of Defendant’s conduct, including back pay, front pay, general and special
damages for lost compensation and job benefits that they would have received but for the
discriminatory practices of Defendant;
3)

For Plaintiff and the Monetary Relief Class exemplary and punitive damages in an

amount commensurate with Defendant’s ability to pay and to deter future conduct;
4)

A preliminary and permanent injunction against Defendant and its directors,

officers, owners, agents, successors, employees and representatives, and any and all persons
acting in concert with them, from engaging in each of the unlawful practices, policies, customs
and usages set forth herein. Such relief at minimum should include professional designed job
analyses of all job positions and identification of objective, nondiscriminatory criteria for
promotion decisions, record keeping that requires documentation of promotion decisions, open
application and job posting procedures for promotion, training and accountability measures to
ensure consistent, nondiscriminatory decision-making, and affirmative action to provide lost
promotion opportunities to Plaintiff and Injunctive Relief class members.

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5)

A declaratory judgment that the practices complained of in this Complaint are

unlawful and violate 42 U.S.C. § 2000(e), et. seq., Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
6)

Costs incurred, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, to the extent allowable by

7)

Pre-Judgment and Post-Judgment interest, as provided by law; and

8)

Such other and further legal and equitable relief as this Court deems necessary,

law;

just and proper.
XII. JURY DEMAND
Plaintiff hereby demands a jury trial on all issues, claims, actions, and defenses in this
case .

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Dated: October 28, 2011

Respectfully submitted,
By: /s/Hal K. Gillespie
Hal K. Gillespie
Texas State Bar No. 07925500
Yona Rozen
Texas State Bar No. 17358500
Joseph H. Gillespie
Texas State Bar No. 24036636
GILLESPIE, ROZEN & WATSKY, PC
3402 Oak Grove Avenue, Suite 200
Dallas, Texas 75204
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
E-mail: [e-mail]
E-mail: [e-mail]

By: /s/Stephen Tinkler
Stephen Tinkler
Tinkler Law Firm
309 Johnson Street
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

By: /s/Merit Bennet
Merit Bennett
BENNETT LAW FIRM
460 St. Michael’s Drive, Suite 703
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

By: /s/Brad Seligman
Brad Seligman
The Impact Fund
125 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94710
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

By: /s/Joseph M. Sellers
Joseph Sellers
COHEN MILSTEIN SELLERS & TOLL, PLLC
1100 New York Ave NW
Washington, DC 20005
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF

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