Starbucks manager wins $25.6 million in racial discrimination suit

In a stunning verdict, a federal jury in New Jersey awarded $25.6 million to a former Starbucks regional manager who claimed that she was fired for being white after the controversial arrests of two Black men at a Philadelphia store in 2018.

Shannon Phillips, who oversaw operations in Philadelphia, southern New Jersey and elsewhere, said that she was ordered to put a white district manager on administrative leave for false reasons, and then terminated less than a month later after she objected to the decision.

Phillips alleged that Starbucks was trying to appease the public outrage over the incident by punishing white employees who had nothing to do with it. She said that the company violated federal and state anti-discrimination laws by making race a determinative factor in her firing.

The jury agreed with her and awarded her $600,000 in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages on Monday.

The case stems from the widely publicized arrests of two Black men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, who were waiting for a business meeting at a Starbucks store in downtown Philadelphia on April 12, 2018. The store manager called the police on them after they refused to leave or buy anything.

The arrests sparked protests and accusations of racial profiling against Starbucks, which apologized and reached a settlement with the men. The company also closed more than 8,000 U.S. stores for an afternoon of racial bias training for its employees.

Phillips, who had worked for Starbucks for 13 years, said that she was not involved in the arrests or the store where they took place. However, she said that she was instructed by her superiors to suspend a white district manager, who was also not responsible for the store, based on an allegation that Black store managers were paid less than white ones.

Phillips said that this allegation was false and that district managers had no input on salaries. She said that she refused to comply with the order and expressed her concerns to her bosses. She said that she was fired on May 8, 2018, without any explanation or performance review.

Starbucks denied Phillips' allegations and said that it replaced her with another regional manager who had more experience in handling crises, such as the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013.

However, Phillips' lawyer Laura Mattiacci argued that Starbucks was looking for a "sacrificial lamb" to calm the public anger and show that it was taking action. She said that picking a Black employee for such a purpose "would have blown up in their faces."

Mattiacci also cited testimony from a Black district manager who praised Phillips as someone who worked hard and cared about her peers after the arrests.

The verdict is a major blow to Starbucks' reputation as a socially conscious company that promotes diversity and inclusion. It also raises questions about how companies should respond to incidents of racial discrimination or bias without violating the rights of their employees.

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