PHILADELPHIA _ A white former regional operations director of Philadelphia-area Starbucks claims the coffee empire fired her to make amends with the community following the 2018 wrongful arrest of two black men at a Center City store.
In a newly filed federal lawsuit, Shannon Phillips, who led Starbucks' retail operations in Southern New Jersey, the Philadelphia region, Delaware and parts of Maryland, alleges she had nothing to do with the arrests of Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson.
Still, she says she was terminated less than a month after the incident because she objected to placing a Spruce Street store's white district manager on administrative leave for purportedly paying lower salaries to black workers than their white counterparts.
However, Phillips _ who lives in South Jersey and worked for the coffee chain for 13 years _ claims, Starbucks' reason for disciplining the manager was "factually impossible," as the company's "Partner Resources" branch sets employee salaries without input from the store's district manager.
Instead, the lawsuit alleges, the action was prompted by the viral arrests in April 2018 of Nelson and Robinson, who were sitting in the Center City store without purchasing anything. Following the national backlash surrounding their wrongful arrests, the suit claims Starbucks aimed to "punish white employees who had not been involved in the arrests, but who worked in and around the city of Philadelphia, in an effort to convince the community that it had properly responded to the incident."
The lawsuit also claims Starbucks did not take any action against the store's black district manager, who was allegedly responsible for promoting the employee who called police on the two black men sitting in the store before the arrests took place.
A day after Phillips protested suspending the white manager, a 15-year employee of Starbucks, from the store, she was told she was being terminated and that "the situation is not recoverable," the lawsuit states.
Phillips claims she had been praised for her "exceptional" performance, had received a bonus a month before she was fired, and that she was on track for a promotion to a position with Starbucks' Government and Community affairs unit until the arrests.
Phillips is suing Starbucks for loss of earning capacity, benefits, "pain and suffering, embarrassment, humiliation, loss of self-esteem, mental anguish, and loss of life's pleasures."
Phillips' attorney and Starbucks did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The wrongful April 2018 arrests of Nelson and Robinson swiftly prompted national outrage and debate about race, a change in Philadelphia's police policies, and protests against Starbucks throughout the country. The coffee chain responded by issuing a video apology and promise from CEO Kevin Johnson to "fix this," and later closing stores across the nation for an afternoon to conduct training on racial bias.
Nelson and Robinson settled with the city for $1 each, and a pledge from the city to spend $200,000 on a program dedicated to teaching Philadelphia public school students about financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and the impact small businesses can have on a community. The resources should pay for more than 100 students' education through January 2021.
