if you're gonna get fired by Starbucks, might as well get $26m for your troubles
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BREAKING: Ex-Starbucks Manager Gets $25.6M Jury Award In Firing Suit
By George Woolston · Listen to article
Law360, Camden, N.J. (June 12, 2023, 4:03 PM EDT) -- A New Jersey federal jury on Monday sided with a white former regional director who alleged she was fired after the arrests of two Black men in one of its Philadelphia cafés sparked outrage, awarding her $25.6 million in damages on her claims the coffee chain was looking for a "sacrificial lamb" to quell a public relations crisis.
The eight-member jury in Camden deliberated for nearly five hours before reaching a verdict after closing arguments in a trial that began June 5 before U.S. District Judge Joel Slomsky.
The jury found the color of Shannon Phillips' skin was a determinative factor in the company firing her in violation of federal and New Jersey laws against discrimination and awarding her $600,000 in compensatory and $25 million in punitive damages.
Shannon Phillips alleged she was fired because she is white and was in a position of authority in the wake of the April 12, 2018, arrests of Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson at a Starbucks located on 18th and Spruce streets.
She sued Starbucks in 2019 on racial bias claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, seeking economic loss and compensatory and punitive damages. She worked for Starbucks for 13 years before she was fired in May 2018. At the time of her termination, she oversaw around 100 stores in the greater Philadelphia area.
Counsel for Phillips, Laura Mattiacci of Console Mattiacci Law LLC, told jurors Friday during closing arguments the company was looking for a "sacrificial lamb" to show it was taking action and to calm backlash it was facing over the arrests.
When looking for that sacrificial lamb, Mattiacci argued, the company was not going to pick a Black employee because "it would have blown up in their faces."
Mattiacci also refuted the company's claims that Phillips was fired because of her leadership, pointing to the testimony of Paul Sykes, a Black district manager who reported to Phillips and who was directly responsible for the store where the arrests occurred.
Sykes had painted Phillips as someone who was working around the clock in the wake of the arrests and who was beloved by her peers.
He testified Phillips' firing came out of nowhere, and speculated she could have been made a scapegoat because she is white.
"This was all about the appearances, the optics of what they did," Mattiacci told jurors. "If Shannon Phillips is Black, does it play out like this? This case is about Starbucks and self-preservation."
Starbucks challenged Phillips' claims she was made a scapegoat because of the color of her skin, telling jurors the company never made a public spectacle of her termination and that the company needed someone with a track record of showing "strength and resolution" during a crisis.
Counsel for Starbucks Richard R. Harris of Holland & Knight told jurors during closing arguments on Friday the company replaced Phillips with another white regional director, Marcus Eckensberger, because of his experience leading amid crises such as the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.
"A peacetime leader is very different from a wartime leader. These were turbulent times. Starbucks needed someone to show strength and resolution," Harris said. "He could handle a crisis."
Robinson and Nelson were arrested on April 12, 2018 after refusing to leave a table at the Philadelphia Starbucks while waiting for an acquaintance to join them for a business meeting. A manager had asked them to leave because they didn't order anything.
A video of their arrest went viral, sparking protests and prompting Starbucks to issue an apology and embark on what it described in legal filings as the "largest corporate response in American history."
Phillips was fired in early May after she was asked to suspend Ben Trinsey, a white district manager under her command, after claims that nonwhite salaried managers were paid less than white salaried managers in the stores he managed.
Phillips pushed back, claiming district managers don't have input on employee salaries per company policy. She contends her superiors insisted Trinsey be suspended, and once she placed him on leave, she was fired. Trinsey would also later be fired, along with the store manager, who is also white.
The company reached an undisclosed settlement with Robinson and Nelson in May 2018, and later that month closed more than 8,000 of its U.S. retail locations and corporate offices so 175,000 employees could receive racial-bias training, which is also now mandatory for newly hired workers.
Phillips is represented by Laura Mattiacci, Katherine C. Oeltjen and Holly W. Smith of Console Mattiacci Law LLC.
Starbucks is represented by Hannah M. Lindgren and Tara Param of Littler Mendelson PC, and Richard R. Harris of Holland & Knight.
The case is Phillips v. Starbucks Corp., case number 1:19-cv-19432, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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