For three years, Barrett had been the public face of the company and its main local cheerleader, badgering reporters for positive stories about Wal-Mart's good deeds and schmoozing state and local leaders.

Barrett was, as she put it, a "believer."

No more.

At a time when Wal-Mart is fighting to save its image against lawsuits and workers unions, Barrett has become one of the most outspoken critics of the local store and the chain. She charges that the company does not respect its employees, the environment, the community or the neighborhood. She joined Florida's Wal-Mart Workers Association and filed a complaint with the St. Petersburg Community Affairs Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging she is a victim of sex and age discrimination.

"I can't tell you how upset I am with Wal-Mart," Barrett said recently. "For the first time in 15 years, I'm ashamed I work for Wal-Mart."

Barrett, 61, got her start with Wal-Mart in 1990 working as a sales associate in the men's department. For the next nine or so years, she worked in various departments, including managing the infants and girls department for four years.

In the late 1990s, she became the store's risk manager, and then-manager Pat Riley began shifting his community involvement duties to her. About three years ago, Riley made her the full-time community involvement coordinator.

The beauty of that position, Barrett said, was being able to devote 40 hours each week to promoting Wal-Mart.

And promote it she did. She frequently appeared at Pinellas Park City Council meetings to hand out checks for deserving causes. She was a highly visible member of the Pinellas Park/Mid-County Chamber of Commerce. She participated in the city's business visitation team that offers advice to select businesses.

She was named one of the city's Ambassadors of the Year in 2004 for her high-profile community involvement.

Barrett spread the good word about Wal-Mart to people she met on the street, to the Pinellas Park City Council and to state representatives Leslie Waters and Charlie Justice. And when she set up an event at the store, such as the annual teacher appreciation day, they all showed up.

"Rveva has been a great asset, not just for Wal-Mart but even for the Chamber of Commerce in promoting Pinellas Park," said Mayor Bill Mischler. "She's good. I think she represented her company very well....They're very fortunate to have an employee like Rveva."

Wherever Barrett went, so did the Wal-Mart name.

That changed soon after the community involvement job was eliminated. Barrett, who was upset over the cut in pay and hours, was more irked when she saw some of the community involvement duties go to a younger man, a manager whose main responsibility is to help run the store, she said.

Barrett began talking to other employees, many of them older than 40, who said they also suffered cuts in pay or hours or were forced to work different shifts.

"I don't know why they're doing this to these people except they make too much money and they're older....Some of these people are afraid," Barrett said. "I, and others, believe we are being discriminated against because of our age."

Wal-Mart declined to comment for this story and declined requests to interview Guzman. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Christi Gallagher said the company will not comment on issues that could end up in litigation. The company, she said last week, had not received a copy of Barrett's EEOC claim.

"Out of respect for the privacy of our associates, Wal-Mart doesn't speak publicly about any claims they may bring," Gallagher said.

Barrett's are not the first such allegations against Wal-Mart.

Among other labor-related legal claims are a class-action suit alleging race discrimination; the biggest sexual discrimination suit in U.S. history, charging the company with systematic bias; and an out-of-court settlement involving a child labor case and teens in three states.

Locally, the Workers Association has alleged that thousands of the company's Florida employees have been forced to work reduced hours, lose benefits or quit their jobs as a result of the scheduling stance.

Barrett's complaints came as no surprise, said Rick Smith, an organizer for the group. Smith disagrees that the chain is deliberately targeting older workers. But, he says, Wal-Mart's actions are affecting more older workers than younger ones.

Earlier this year, Wal-Mart lodged a campaign to fight the negative publicity and efforts to organize union workers.

"We ceded too much ground, letting them tell a story about us that is not factual," Lee Scott, president and chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said in a June St. Petersburg Times article. "Going forward (fighting back) is going to be my life."

Barrett said the company's elimination of her community involvement position makes no sense in view of the need for good publicity.

"Wal-Mart cannot pay for the free publicity that having people volunteer in the community gives them," Barrett said. "Wal-Mart cannot pay for the goodwill ... but Wal-Mart has turned a deaf ear to that."

In the end, Wal-Mart has created a vocal critic who is experienced in getting her point across.

"If a Wal-Mart is coming to your community, you need to be informed. If you work for Wal-Mart, you ... better be informed," Barrett said. "We need a living wage...

"We need Wal-Mart to be a good, responsible employer, and they're not."