The Honorable Richard McDermott
Note for Hearing with Oral Arguments
IN SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF
|
LARRY PITTMAN, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Defendant. |
No. 99-2-52345-8KNT DECLARATION OF CURTIS HOLLIS IN OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT'S MOTION
TO DISMISS Note for Hearing with Oral Arguments |
I, Curtis Hollis declare,
I read the declaration of Terry Smith who said that he hired and fired me the same week because I did not show up to work the next day. Almost everything he said is not true. I worked for King's Command Foods for over ten months. When I first went to King's Command I made it perfectly clear to Terry Smith when he hired me that I would not be able to show up for work until the next week because I had another job and wanted to give them notice.
I got written up for not going to work when I was in a treatment program. I told Terry Smith about they situation I was in and asked for a leave of absence for 28 days because I was going into an in-house treatment program. He approved it. He asked me what day I was to go in. I told him the date. When I went to start the program, which is on a first come/first serve basis, they told me they were full and would not have a bed available for another week. I called Terry Smith the next day and said I didn't get a bed and I was on standby. He said, "you're just calling me now!" I told him I only waited one day to see if they called me because they are on a first come/first serve basis. Terry Smith said to get it squared away before I went back to work. Then he said, why don't you come back to work?" When I came back to work, he had a pink slip waiting for me. This put me up to 1/2 occurrence before being fired.
When I worked as a grinder, I had to pick up 75 pound boxes on a regular basis eight hours a day. There was always pressure to speed up and lift those boxes. It was like the plantation saying: "lift those bales, tote that barge." In the defendant's motion, they said that if I didn't keep up, I would be sent to packing. This was a threat to make me work faster. I was working as fast as I could to the point of total exhaustion. I could hardly stay on my feet at times. When I couldn't get any faster, I was sent to packing.
I knew at that point that I was going to be fired because being sent to packing is "a black man's way out the door" at King's Command Foods. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I worked, I was always written up for something.
It was common knowledge that Jody Lombard, Larry Shockley, Shannon Shaw—all white workers—came in late and/or drunk or did not bother to come in at all and were not written up for it. When white workers would get demoted they would have their job restored within a couple of days. This didn't happen with the black workers at King's Command.
They didn't call me Nigger to my face, but they did make racial jokes. One day, the lights went off and Jim Markewicz said "Smile, Curtis, I can't see you." That's really racial, and really insulting and hard to live with. It would do me no good to go to management about this because they were part of it, so on this occasion I called the union and complained and they said they would get back to me and there would be a meeting with Terry Smith. This never happened. I never filed a formal grievance because the union never followed up. I always felt the union was part of management. They treated me less than a man and you don't have to use racial words to do that. They watched me from the window and pointed at me. I felt nervous and belittled. Terry Smith belittled me all the time and it was in a racial way.
When I complained to Darrell Cody about this (he was the shop steward), he told me to keep my mouth shut because that was just the way it was if you want to work.
I don't feel King's Command was treating me equally regarding my request for transfer to the boxmaker position. I applied for this several times. They gave the job to a white guy, Shannon Shaw—he lived with Jody Lombard—and the next opening was given to Sergio. They never posted the position. They had me locked out of it because without posting it, they could keep filling it with whoever they wanted.
When the lawyer for King's Command asked me during my deposition if I got in the lawsuit because I hoped to be part of a $50 million settlement, I told him no, I'd do it for $50. The racial belittlement that I suffered at King's Command makes it necessary for me to stand up and make them accountable.
I declare under the penalty of perjury under the
laws of the State of
DATED this ______ day of January 2002.
______________________________
Curtis Hollis
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