In the legal arena, more often than not, juries get it exactly right. You recall the precipitating incident—it happened inside a Philadelphia area Starbucks Coffee Shop in the Spring of 2018.
Two black guys walked into a local shop and sat down. They had a meeting scheduled at the shop with a third (white) guy. They had not ordered yet, and one of the two men asked to use the bathroom. His request was denied. To add insult to injury, the manager asked the men to leave because they had not purchased anything. When they refused, the manager called the police.
When the police arrived, the men told the officers they had a meeting scheduled at the location and were waiting for a third participant to arrive. The cops asked them to leave, and they refused. Unbelievably, they were handcuffed and taken to the local police station. Bystanders filmed the event, saying the men did nothing wrong. The men were released, later that day, without charges.
Videos of the arrests went viral online and prompted protests, threats of boycott, and accusations that Starbucks was racist. The CEO called the incident reprehensible, publicly apologized, and closed 8,000 stores to provide racial bias training to all employees. The two men threatened to sue Starbucks and agreed to a confidential settlement, pre-suit.
Starbucks’ full-court press to combat racist decisions and its settlement with the two men ended the crisis, right? Wrong!
Fast forward to 2023, over five years later. The incident continues to haunt Starbucks, but not in the way you might imagine. Monday, a New Jersey jury ordered Starbucks to pay $25.6 million to a former regional manager. Why? She was fired for being white.
The unanimous jury found that Shannon Phillips’ state and federal civil rights were violated.
Phillips was, by Starbucks own admission, an “exemplary” employee. She’d been with the company for 13 years. After 6 years of praised performance as a district manager in Ohio, she was promoted to regional manager in 2011, overseeing approximately 100 stores in New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
Following the Rittenhouse fiasco, the company engaged in additional image-promoting damage control efforts to restore its credibility. As part of that effort, Phillips was ordered to suspend a white manager (not involved in the Rittenhouse incident) in Philadelphia amidst allegations that the manager had engaged in racial discrimination. Phillips knew those allegations were false and refused the order. At the same time, the black manager who oversaw Rittenhouse was retained by the company, even after promoting the employee who called the police on the two men.
Starbucks claimed that Phillips “failed in every aspect” to perform during the crisis. Phillips accused Starbucks of punishing her and other white employees even if they weren’t involved in Rittenhouse. The jury agreed with Phillips, big time, awarding her $25 million in punitive (punishment) damages.
The result in this case may surprise you, but it is a huge win for justice in America. Congratulations to Ms. Phillips and her talented lawyers.
Has Starbucks learned its lesson? The legal lessons that Starbucks and other companies should have learned in the Spring of 2018? If you own a company that employs and/or serves a diverse community in America, don’t make decisions based on racial, ethnic, or religious considerations. It will cost you.
Simple, no? Well . . . apparently not.
Mark M. Bello is an attorney and award-winning author of the Zachary Blake Legal Thriller Series, ripped-from-the headlines, realistic fiction that speak truth to power and champion the rights of citizens in our justice system. These novels are dedicated to the social justice movement. They educate, spark discussion and inspire readers to action. One of these novels, Betrayal High, was written in response to school shootings. For more information, please visit www.markmbello.com. Mark also hosts the Justice Counts podcast with Lean to the Left editor & publisher Bob Gatty, presenting bi-weekly interviews focused on social justice.