A white Starbucks executive who was fired when her staff refused to let two black men use the restroom at a Philadelphia store has been awarded $25.6 million.
Shannon Phillips won her lawsuit against the coffee giant on Monday and was awarded $25 million in punitive damages and $600,000 in punitive damages.
A federal jury in New Jersey found that the company had given her the boot because she was white, which violated her civil rights.
Five years after the arrest of the two black men at the Starbucks in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, the trial finally came to an end this week.
Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson had been waiting for a meeting when they were denied access to the toilet and asked to leave before the police were called.
Their arrests sparked widespread outrage and protests after footage of the incident surfaced — and Starbucks was accused of racism and boycott threats.
Shannon Phillips won her lawsuit against the coffee giant on Monday and was awarded $25 million in punitive damages and $600,000 in punitive damages
Five years after the arrest of the two black men at the Starbucks store in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, the lawsuit finally came to an end this week.
Ms Phillips, who oversaw the venue and about 100 others, was quickly sacked, but sued the coffee chain in 2019, claiming it was due to racial bias.
After her victory on Monday, her lawyer Laura Carlin Mattiacci said she was “very happy” with the unanimous verdict.
She said she “proved with ‘clear and convincing evidence that punitive damages were warranted’ under New Jersey law.”
In the lawsuit, Ms. Phillips – who worked for Starbucks for 13 years – claimed she had nothing to do with the arrests, but was fired a month later anyway.
Mobile phone footage of the arrests went viral after it emerged that Mr Nelson and Mr Robinson were detained in the shop after sitting without ordering anything.
The arrests sparked protests and prompted the closure of more than 8,000 locations so that the company’s 175,000 employees could receive racial bias training.
According to the lawsuit, Ms Phillips said she worked “tirelessly” to help rebuild community relations in the wake of the controversy.
In her role as regional manager, Phillips said she oversaw about 100 stores in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.
The highly publicized arrests sparked protests outside the store (above) and led to more than 8,000 locations being closed so the company’s 175,000 employees could receive racial bias training
She alleged that Starbucks began punishing white employees who were not involved weeks later, in an attempt to publicly prove they handled the incident.
Ms. Phillips claims that the company directed her to send a white male manager, who had worked for the company for 15 years, on administrative leave over an allegation of racial discrimination against him.
The accusation was based on complaints that non-white employees in that manager’s store were paid less than white employees.
Ms Phillips said she claimed the male manager had no say in wages. The lawsuit also said Ms Phillips objected to him being suspended because she said the manager was not racist and she had never seen him engage in discriminatory behaviour.
In comparison, the black manager of the store where the arrests were made, she said, took no disciplinary action.
Ms Phillips said the black manager’s subordinate was the one who called 911 after the two men sat down and refused to leave after being told they couldn’t use the bathroom without buying something.
Mr. Nelson and Mr. Robinson, who were arrested and spent hours in jail, eventually reached a settlement with Starbucks in the aftermath for an undisclosed sum and an offer of a free college education.
She claims she was fired shortly after, saying the “situation is beyond repair.” Starbucks denied the claims in the lawsuit, but has not commented on the outcome.
The two black men reached a settlement with Starbucks in the aftermath for an undisclosed sum and an offer of a free college education.
Separately, they struck a deal with the city for a token $1 each and a pledge from officials to create a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs.
“We’ve thought long and hard about it and we feel like this is the best way to see that change that we want to see,” Robinson said at the time.
“It’s not something that’s good for now, but I feel like we’ll see the real change over time.”
The men said they were waiting at the Starbucks location to meet with a third man about a potential real estate opportunity.
No charges were ever filed against them after their arrest. The incident was a major embarrassment to Starbucks, which has long projected an image as a socially conscious company.
During the uproar, then-Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson went to Philadelphia to apologize to the men.
He also ordered the closure of more than 8,000 stores in the US so that 175,000 workers could receive unconscious bias training.