A New Jersey jury has found that race played a role in the termination of a Starbucks regional manager, as the coffee company tried to clear itself of racism allegations in 2018.
Starbucks was sentenced to pay Shannon Phillips $25.6 million in damages for unlawfully terminating her after she defied the company’s instruction to fire a white employee on false race discrimination claims.
In April 2018, the coffee shop business found itself at the focus of a racial firestorm when the arrest of two black customers at one of its Philadelphia locations went viral.
The two males were allegedly sitting in the coffee shop without ordering anything and were denied access to the loo before being warned to leave or the police would be called.
The two men detained, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, received a personal apology from Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, reached an out-of-court settlement with the firm for an unknown price, and were granted free college education.
Starbucks closed 8,000 locations so that 175,000 staff may receive racial prejudice training.
Starbucks then ordered Phillips to put a white male store manager at the branch on administrative leave because of a false race discrimination allegation against him.