New York
CNN
—
A jury on Monday found in favor of former Starbucks regional director Shannon Phillips, who is suing the company for wrongfully firing her, claiming she was terminated for being White.
Phillips, who worked at Starbucks for 13 years and managed a region of area stores, was fired after the arrest of two Black men at a Philadelphia Starbucks in April 2018.
A New Jersey jury returned a verdict of $25.6 million, including $25 million for punitive damages and $600,000 in compensatory damages, according to Console Mattiacci Law, which represented Phillips. The jury was unanimous after a six-day trial, attorneys said, noting that Phillips will also seek back and front pay.
Starbucks said it was disappointed by the decision and was evaluating its next steps, spokeswoman Jaci Anderson told CNN.
This week’s verdict is the latest development in an incident that has sparked protests and anger. In 2018, two men were asked to leave the coffee shop after sitting at a table without ordering anything. The men, who refused to leave because they were waiting for a business associate, were escorted out of the coffee shop in handcuffs after a store manager called the police. They later reached settlement agreements with Starbucks and the City of Philadelphia.
In a lawsuit first filed in 2019, Phillips said the company discriminated against him because of his race when he was let go.
The 2019 complaint alleges that after the arrests, Starbucks “took steps to punish White employees who were not involved in the arrests, but worked in and around the city of Philadelphia, in an effort to convince the community that it responded correctly to the incident.”
Phillips, who at the time oversaw locations including Philadelphia, said Starbucks ordered him to place a White employee on administrative leave as part of these efforts, due to alleged discriminatory behavior that Phillips said he was aware of. -an that is not accurate. After Phillips tried to defend the employee, the company let him go, he said.
The reason for the termination, according to the complaint, was that “‘the situation was irreversible.'” The complaint argued that it was “a pre-text for racial discrimination,” and added that Phillips’ “race” was a motivating and/or determinative factor of [Starbucks’] discriminatory treatment.”
Starbucks, which denied the claims at the time, said in a 2021 court filing that after the incident, “senior leaders and members of Partner Resources all observed Ms. Phillips exhibiting a complete absence of leadership in this crisis.”
Phillips, the company argued, “appeared overwhelmed and lacked awareness of how critical the situation was.” Phillips’ manager ultimately decided to fire him “because strong leadership was critical at the time,” according to the document.
The 2018 incident was a major PR crisis for the company. After the arrests, Starbucks took several steps to try to defuse the situation.
Then-CEO Kevin Johnson apologized, saying that what happened was “reprehensible” and promised to make any changes necessary to ensure that something like this never happens again. .
Starbucks soon changed its policy to allow people to use Starbucks restrooms and spend time in stores, even if they hadn’t made a purchase. The coffee chain also closed about 8,000 company-owned stores in one afternoon for a mandatory anti-bias training for nearly 175,000 employees.
– CNN’s Laura Ly and Zenebou Sylla contributed to this report.
