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State Sues Starbucks Over Policies Promoting ‘Discrimination’

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Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has sued Starbucks over its diversity policies, saying the company made hiring and promotion decisions based on race in violation of state and federal anti-discrimination laws.

The complaint filed Tuesday said that the coffeehouse giant launched a diversity, equity and inclusion program in 2020 to retain and promote BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and People of Color] employees, including setting a goal of at least 30% minority representation at corporate levels and 40% at retail levels by 2025.

“Starbucks has decided to require outright race- and sex-based discrimination in hiring via quotas, segregate employees on unlawful bases, and single out preferred groups for additional training and employment benefits,” said the 59-page lawsuit.

Starting in 2021, the company also tied executive compensation to meeting its diversity goals, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

“As Attorney General, I have a moral and legal obligation to protect Missourians from a company that actively engages in systemic race and sex discrimination,” said Mr. Bailey in a statement. “Racism has no place in Missouri. We’re filing suit to halt this blatant violation of the Missouri Human Rights Act in its tracks.” (Read more from “State Sues Starbucks Over Policies Promoting ‘Discrimination’” HERE)

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Woke vs. Woke: 3K+ Starbucks Workers to Strike Over Pride Backlash

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Employees at approximately 150 Starbucks stores are reportedly gathering to strike Friday regarding an argument over LGBTQQIAAP2s+ Pride decorations.

The workers are from stores across the nation, and the Starbucks Workers United Union claims the company restricted Pride decorations in some of its stores, CNN reported Friday.

However, Starbucks has since denied the claim and said there has been no change to its policies regarding the decorations, per CNBC:

The company stated, “Workers United continues to spread false information about our benefits, policies and negotiation efforts, a tactic used to seemingly divide our partners and deflect from their failure to respond to bargaining sessions for more than 200 stores.” (Read more from “Woke vs. Woke: 3K+ Starbucks Workers to Strike Over Pride Backlash” HERE)

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White Starbucks Manager Wins $25M Suit Claiming She Was Fired Over Her Race After Arrest of Black Men

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A white Starbucks manager who was fired after two black men were refused access to a Philadelphia store bathroom — triggering nationwide racial protests — has been awarded $25 million by a federal jury after she argued she was axed because of her race.

Shannon Phillips, a regional manager who oversaw several Starbucks locations across New Jersey and Pennsylvania, argued in a lawsuit she was cut loose by the coffee giant after viral footage of the two black men being arrested in 2018 sparked a firestorm of racial backlash.

Phillips argued she had nothing to do with the arrests but Starbucks management used her as a “scapegoat” in order to prove the company was taking action amid the controversy.

The jury’s verdict, handed down on Monday, found Phillips’ race was a factor in the company’s decision to sack her, which was a violation of her civil rights.

The saga unfolded when an employee at the Rittenhouse Square location had called 911 on April 12, 2018, after the two men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, were denied access to the bathroom because they weren’t paying customers — and then refused to leave. (Read more from “White Starbucks Manager Wins $25M Suit Claiming She Was Fired Over Her Race After Arrest of Black Men” HERE)

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Starbucks’ $4,400 Error and 2 Bounced Checks Cost Family a ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Vacation: Report

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A quick stop at Starbucks cost one Oklahoma man more than he bargained for when an error caused him to be charged almost $4,500 for two coffees, and he and his wife had to cancel an upcoming family vacation as a result.

On January 7, Jesse O’Dell went through the drive-thru of a nearby Starbucks in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For almost 16 years, Jesse made that trip almost every day, ordering an iced Americano for his wife, Deedee, and a caramel frappuccino for himself, which usually cost him just over $11. But on that day, a mysterious $4,444.44 gratuity was somehow added to the bill, bringing the total charged to his credit card to a staggering $4,456.27.

At first, Jesse did not notice the issue, but a few days later, Deedee attempted to use the same card when shopping at the mall with their four children, and the card was declined. Jesse then immediately contacted the Starbucks district manager, who gave him a copy of his receipt, showing the exorbitant gratuity.

Starbucks then also promised to correct the error by issuing the couple two checks that would cover the cost. Sure enough, they received the two checks in short order and went to the bank to deposit them. However, both of those checks bounced, leaving the couple angry and frustrated. . .

Unfortunately, that second round of checks came too late for the O’Dells, who had a “once in a lifetime” vacation to Thailand planned. Deedee, who was born in Thailand but adopted and raised in the United States, has not seen her sisters in nearly two decades. The family was scheduled to make the trip on January 27, but had to cancel because of the missing funds. (Read more from “Starbucks’ $4,400 Error and 2 Bounced Checks Cost Family a ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Vacation: Report” HERE)

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Starbucks CEO Demands Employees Come Into the Office at Least Three Days a Week After Employees Refuse to Meet One Day per Week Commitment

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Workers at Starbucks’ corporate office in Seattle, Washington, will be required to work in-office at least three days per week, if within commuting distance, a memo from CEO Howard Schultz describes.

Starbucks is one of several large corporations putting their foot down about employees working from home over COVID-19 safety protocols, joining Disney, which announced in early January 2023 that employees need to go to work four days per week.

Apple recently instituted a three in-office days per-week policy, and Snapchat’s parent company is requiring 80% of employee work to be done in-office, according to CNN.

Any employee who lives “within commuting distance” of the Starbucks Support Center will have to start heading to the corporate office three times per week, including Tuesday and Wednesday, starting Jan. 30, 2023.

The memo stressed that the company’s culture of togetherness and in-person connection was damaged greatly by lockdowns, both at its headquarters and its stores. (Read more from “Starbucks CEO Demands Employees Come Into the Office at Least Three Days a Week After Employees Refuse to Meet One Day per Week Commitment” HERE)

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Starbucks Admits Stores Not Safe Amid Dem-Run City Crime Explosion (VIDEO)

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American cities “have abdicated their responsibility in fighting crime,” said Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who is a Democratic donor.

“I must say, in my view at the local, state and federal level, these governments across the country and leaders, mayors and governors, city councils have abdicated their responsibility in fighting crime and addressing mental health,” Schultz said in a video posted on Twitter.

Earlier in the week, Starbucks announced store closures in four Democrat-run states and the District of Columbia.

(Read more from “Starbucks Admits Stores Not Safe Amid Dem-Run City Crime Explosion” HERE)

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Starbucks CEO Begs Employees to Come Back to Work; Why Employees Don’t Want to Return to Work

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By Townhall. . .Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is begging his employees to return to the office, but to no avail he has yet to succeed, despite promising to do “whatever” it takes.

During a New York Times event, Schultz said he has begged his employees to come back to work, desperately saying “I said I’ll get on my knees… I’ll do push ups, whatever you want. Come back.” . . .

“I have been unsuccessful, despite everything I’ve tried to do, to get our people back to work…no, they are not coming back at the level I want them to. And, you know, we’re a very collaborative, creative group. I realize I’m an old-school person and this is a different generation.” (Read more from “Starbucks CEO Begs Employees to Come Back to Work” HERE)

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Why the Return to the Office Isn’t Working

By Vox. . .The majority of Americans don’t work from home, but among those who do, there’s a battle going on about where they’ll work in the future. And it’s not just people who enjoy remote work who are upset about the return to the office.

Those who want to be remote are upset because they enjoyed working from home and don’t understand why, after two years of doing good work there, they have to return to the office. People who couldn’t wait to go back are not finding the same situation they enjoyed before the pandemic, with empty offices and fewer amenities. Those who said they prefer hybrid — 60 percent of office workers — are not always getting the interactions with colleagues they’d hoped for.

The reasons the return to the office isn’t working out are numerous. Bosses and employees have different understandings of what the office is for, and after more than two years of working remotely, everyone has developed their own varied expectations about how best to spend their time. As more and more knowledge workers return to the office, their experience at work — their ability to focus, their stress levels, their level of satisfaction at work — has deteriorated. That’s a liability for their employers, as the rates of job openings and quits are near record highs for professional and business services, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. (Read more from “Why the Return to the Office Isn’t Working” HERE)

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Starbucks Nixes Employee Vaccine Mandate After Supreme Court Ruling

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Starbucks will not require its US-based employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, just days after the Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for companies with more than 100 workers.

The Seattle-based coffee chain, which employs some 228,000 workers in 8,000 stores in the US, had imposed a vaccine mandate in line with federal guidelines. But in a 6-3 vote last week, the high court blocked the Biden administration from requiring large companies to impose a vaccine-or-testing mandate on its work force.

“We respect the Court’s ruling and will comply,” Starbucks COO John Culver wrote in a Tuesday memo to employees.

Culver wrote that “we continue to believe strongly in the spirit and intent of the mandate” and that the company would “strongly encourage vaccination and boosters” as well as “disclosure” of vaccination status.

Starbucks told the Associated Press that while 90% have reported their status, the “vast majority” of workers are fully vaccinated. The company declined to give a specific number. (Read more from “Starbucks Nixes Employee Vaccine Mandate After Supreme Court Ruling” HERE)

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Starbucks Barista Files Suit, Claims She Was Fired for Refusing to Wear LGBTQ T-Shirt

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A woman who worked at a Starbucks in New Jersey has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit, claiming she was fired for refusing to wear an LGBTQ Pride t-shirt.

Betsy Fresse, who is a Christian from Newark, New Jersey, worked as a barista in Hoboken in 2018 and states in her lawsuit that the managers knew of her religious beliefs, as she requested Sundays and certain evenings off to attend church gatherings, as NBC News reported.

Later, Fresse transferred to a Starbucks in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. She claims that in June 2019, the store manager conducted a meeting with staffers in his office, and a box of Starbucks Pride T-shirts lay by his desk. She says that being the last one to leave, she asked the manager if wearing the T-shirts was required, and the manager said it was not.

The lawsuit states that several weeks later, Starbucks’ ethics and compliance helpline contacted her about her request not to wear the shirt, and she responded that her “religious beliefs prevented her from doing so.” (Read more from “Starbucks Barista Files Suit, Claims She Was Fired for Refusing to Wear LGBTQ T-Shirt” HERE)

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WATCH: Barista Creates a Poisonous ‘Blue Lives Matter’ Drink for Law Enforcement

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A Barista that works at a Starbucks inside a Target in Indianapolis posted a TikTok video of a poisonous concoction he created for law enforcement officers. The Starbucks cup has the words “Blue Lives Matter” written on the side of the cup. The recipe includes more than a cup of bleach.

According to The Police Tribune, the video – which has since been deleted – had a caption on the video that said “All I want for Christmas is more dead cops.”

The Barista, identified as Van Greyson Hart, went through a step-by-step process to make the so-called drink.

“Hi guys, I updated my recipe for the Blue Lives Matter drinks,” the voice behind the camera said.

“First we’re gonna start with bleach, all the way to the third line,” he said, pouring bleach into the Starbucks cup. “Then we’re gonna add ice because, you know, cops love ice.” (Read more from “WATCH: Barista Creates a Poisonous ‘Blue Lives Matter’ Drink for Law Enforcement” HERE)

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