Shannon Phillips is a name Starbucks would love to forget and most likely has regret
on how they treated her and other white employees.
Back in 2018, you may recall two black men were arrested in Philadelphia after
refusing to leave the establishment after taking up a table, and using the restroom
for several hours without purchasing anything from the menu at all.
Phillips was then the regional manager of the Philadelphia and southern New Jersey
area at the time. Phillips claimed that Starbucks had given her orders to put a white
manager, at a totally different location of the incident, on administrative leave with
reasons she knew weren’t legitimate, while the black manager at the coffee shop
where the incident had taken place was not spoken to.
Phillips deferred to suspend the white manager, which she knew hadn’t broken any
company policies, and was then herself fired about a month later.
The jury in a federal court awarded Phillips a hefty amount of $25.6 million on
Monday in New Jersey. She received $25 million in punitive damages and $600,000
in compensatory damages. Jurors believed Phillips’ claim that race was the
determining factor of her being fired, which is a violation of federal and state anti-
discrimination.
FZ- 6/22/23
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