Hon. Richard McDermott
January 18, 2002
SUPERIOR COURT OF WASHINGTON FOR KING
COUNTY
|
LARRY PITTMAN, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Defendant. |
No. 99-2-52345-8KNT DECLARATION OF yolanda eskridge IN OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT’S
MOTION for summary judgment |
I, Yolanda Eskridge,
declare,
I am a 46 year old Balck Female that worked at King’s Command Food’s for xxx years. I was good employee and worked hard for the company
I read the Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment and I also read their responses to First Set of Interrogatories. Based on my knowledge and what I read, I would like to make the following statement.
I claim that sixty to seventy percent of the statements made about me in the Motion for Summary Judgment are untrue..
I believe I was a victim of disparate treatment. I was told if I abandoned my job I would be terminated. The day I was terminated, I had worked eight hours plus one hour overtime and I had already punched out when they wanted me to punch back in. When I refused, they terminated me. I don’t even think this can be called job abandonment. But, I reviewed the occurrence copies that King’s Command provided in response to our interrogatory request number 613, on page KCF01991, and the occurrence is as follows:
“On 4-19-00 [name omitted] asked you to stay to help with sleeve pak. You walked off the job, next time will be termination.”
So this person walked off the job which is a lot worse than me who had already clocked out after an overtime day, and this person only got a warning. I was fired. Another one was KCF01835.
On this one: “…called to say her car was broke down. She was told to take a bus or taxi. She did not call or show up. One more incident of this type will result in termination.”
So here is another abandonment that only ended up as a warning, not termination. This is disparate treatment between whites and blacks for occurrences.
I would like to say more about the time I was fired. Tim Markewicz was my supervisor. He had decided to fire someone the day I was fired because he wanted to make room to move another employee into our line. It was common knowledge and I even heard Tim say that he planned to fire a white lady named Diane. When he tried to make me come back in to work after I had clocked out, I griped because there really wasn’t anything to do, and I was sick (I had already complained about being sick and they knew I was sick and I still worked my whole shift), and I wanted to go home. He used this as an excuse to fire me. I am black. I was expendable.
In the motion to dismiss me from the case, I disagree with King’s Command’s analysis of the situation.
In their Motion, page 18, they state:
“[Yolanda Eskridge] contradicted this testimony during a later deposition, claiming
to have applied for a red meat position at some unknown time. [deposition 170:14-18]
King’s Command has no record of her requesting or applying for a red meat position.
[Smith 3rd Dec. ¶ 52.]”
In reviewing King’s Command’s response to Interrogatory Number 251, they state:
“Before 1999, an employee may have applied either orally or in writing for available
positions. Such application depended on the particular position, availability needs and
timing of the request. If an application was made orally, King’s Command Foods, Inc.
does not currently have records thereof.”
See also:
Defendant’s response to First Set Interrogatory Number 95:
“…union, through its representative Steve Conway, notified Defendant at the conclusion
of the negotiations for the 1998 union agreement that it was no longer necessary to maintain
promotion application records.”
So if King’s Command took oral applications, then how can they try to use as evidence against me that they do not have a record of my applying for the position. They didn’t keep the records. They can’t prove I didn’t apply.
In my deposition, I told Defendant that I was the only black female on the swing shift. In their Motion, they said this was not true. Look at the following hire and fire dates for the three of us:
Mariana Inman hired 11/4/96 term 5/29/98 see Exhibit B
Yolanda Eskridge hired 5/3/98 term 12/1/98
Claudette Herron 6/8/98 term 7/26/98
I could at most have overlapped with Mariana Inman 26 days. I could at most have overlapped with Claudette Herron 48 days. However, Defendant claims that Claudette Herron and Mariana Inman worked with me on night shift (swing). This is not true. If Claudette Herron worked on my shift, then I never saw her. She must have been in another area. Mariana Inman worked with Larry Pittman on days. See his declaration supporting my claim that I was the only black woman working on swing shift. I never saw any other blacks on my shift except for Greg Cody, Terrance Davis and sometimes temps who came in for two or three days.
There was racially disparate treatment in the way they let us take our breaks. The raw line and the fry line, where there were no minorities, would be allowed to take their breaks early. Then when they were done, they allowed our line, the cook line one, to take its break, but we were mainly minorities. So they used the breaks to segregate the races WHO MADE BREAKS.
DIRTIEST JOBS TO BLACKS
Terrance Davis and Shannon Shaw were smoking marijuana and they only got written up, not fired. I acknowledge that Terrance is black and Shannon is white; however, it is disparate disciplinary treatment if you catch someone smoking a controlled substance, write it up as it they smoking cigarettes, and then not fire them, but fire me for abandoning my job after nine hours of work.
I want to show disparate treatment in how some other whites were treated for abandonment as opposed to the way I was fired.
Please refer to the attached occurrences, KCF02170 and KCF02155 (Defendant First Set
Interrogatory Responses):
Employee Warning: 6/5/00 to a white employee:
“…now has 3 occurrences with his last ‘early departure’ on 6-5-00”
Employee Warning 12/21/00 to a white employee:
“Left work early on 12-20-00. Must check out with Tim in the future.”
Employee Warning 9/19/01 to a white employee:
“…is at 3 occurrences, with his last absence on 9-10-01.”
Employee Warning 9/19/01 to a white employee:
“Failure to call in, or show up for work on 9-11-01. Next incident may result in termination.”
These are facts, not speculation, of disparate treatment between whites and blacks in the way they practiced their disciplinary policy.
And here is another one: FROM WHERE
December 2, 1999 letter from King’s Command to David Cassatt, a white employee:
“On October 12, 1999, you reached six occurrences, normally termination. At that
time you were given a reprimand by David Horn and me, your salary was reduced,
and you were moved from exempt to nonexempt status. You were told that your
performance, especially your attendance, must improve immediately or you would
face further disciplinary action.”
This is blatantly disparate treatment. What more can I say.
I swear under penalty of perjury that the foregoing statement is true and correct.
______________________________
Yolanda Eskridge
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