Starbucks Refuses To Pay Baristas Court-Ordered Tips

Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz says the coffee chain will not pay its California baristas back for tips they shared with shift supervisors, defying a San Diego Superior Court ruling last week.

Schultz, in a voicemail message to employees Wednesday night, called the ruling unfair and said, "I want to personally let you know that we would never condone any type of behavior that would lead anyone to conclude that we would take money from our people," the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Friday.

"When I read these headlines about Starbucks skimming or stealing from our partners it's just beyond my comprehension how irresponsible it is," the CEO said.

The company said in a separate statement Wednesday that there is no money to be "refunded or returned from Starbucks."

The California lawsuit was filed in 2004, and was granted class-action status in 2006. Last week, San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett ordered Starbucks to pay baristas more than $100 million in back tips and interest, saying state law prohibits managers and supervisors from taking a cut from the tip jar. A hearing is set for May 1 before Cowett on how the California tip money should be distributed.

Starbucks responded in the statement that "shift supervisors are not managers and have no managerial authority."

Cowett also issued an injunction preventing Starbucks' shift supervisors from sharing in future tips, but Starbucks said it would not comply with the order while it appeals the court decision, the P-I reported.

Since the ruling, two similar lawsuits against Starbucks have been filed, one in Minnesota and one in Massachusetts. Both seek-class action status.

Comments

[kikomnipotent]

11:55 AM on 03/30/2008

Why don't the baristas simply put the tips in their pockets insted of jars, and at the end of the day they can report whatever they feel like. Then when the first one gets fired for "stealing" their own tip money, they've got another class action with more teeth. Motto: Forgiveness is easier than permission.

[americanwhocares]

09:41 AM on 03/30/2008

Of course refused to obey the law. They are following the example of their "hero" GW Bush who thinks laws only apply to the "little people". I have long ago stopped buying the overpriced coffee at starbucks (McDonalds coffee is great if you are on the road). Otherwise I make my own and save a bundle. I would recommend this to all people who go to starbucks.

[TEETAAT]

09:04 AM on 03/30/2008

I hired a kid about 2 years ago. He put $5.15 as his hourly wage at Starbucks. And it appears they were skimming his tips...What a wonderful place to work indeed!

[DatelessNerd]

03:44 AM on 03/30/2008

Starbucks should put TWO tip jars on the counter: One for the Baristas and one for their shareholders. That should clear up any confusion as to who the customers are tipping!

[Deborah]

11:35 PM on 03/29/2008

What is the difference between McDonald's and Starbucks, except the price,(and McDonald's has better coffee) I don't tip at McD's, or Starbucks. When did we start tipping at fast food resturants? This explosion of tip jars in businesses that traditionally do not expect tipping is a brazen attempt to huslte money from customers that are already paying an astonishing price for a 20 cent cup of coffee.

I worked as a waitress through college, and made $2.25 an hour, plus tips. we paid bushelp, & bartenders a percentage of our tips each night.

I think customers should boycott all tip jars! tip the person who has waited on you instead.

[TimN]

10:16 PM on 03/29/2008

For almost two decades Starbucks has been a model for business, putting quality and personnel first. Almost unheard of in retail food sales, they offer health benefits, a 401k, paid vacation and stock options not to just their full time employees (that would be impressive enough) but also to part time personnel. In 1993, they were also one of the first to offer benefits to same-sex couples as well as traditional couples. If only all companies could be such "corporate bast@rds".

[accountability]

11:34 PM on 03/29/2008

That may be... in fact I know that they have done some very good things, BUT that does not absolve them from doing the wrong thing here. When I spend whatever it is nowadays to get a latte...(which, given the cost is almost never!) and I put money into the tip jar I want it going to the people working the machines and serving the customers for minimum wage not to the corporation or to management who earn a better wage and do different work.

They are also very involved with AIPAC I think.

Actually I might be wrong on that I didn't go look it up again, I'm calling it up from some recess of the brain. They are involved with Israel policies though.
Anyone know anything about that?

The point being no one and no company or corp or institution etc is 100% great or 100% evil. Being so responsible and progressive in one area doesn't preclude them for doing something stupid or short sighted in another area.

[TimN]

03:51 PM on 03/30/2008

I haven't commented on the case. I am only commenting on the general character of the Starbucks corporation. You'll find the facts I've presented to be in stark contrast to many of the 'progressive' commenters here.

[TEETAAT]

09:16 AM on 03/30/2008

The best minimum wage job out there I suppose,,,

[TimN]

09:52 AM on 03/30/2008

Many food chains are more than happy to pay the federal minimum wage of $5.85/hr. Starbucks is well above that with an average hourly wage for a common barista at $8.03 [1]. It's called "market rate". My state, for example, follows federally mandated minimum wage guidelines, but few businesses are able to hire in my area for less than $7.00/hr. My local Starbucks pays $8.50/hr (I asked just this morning). If you demand more than that the business will go out of business; liberal mission accomplished - no jobs. Starbucks has only been able to stay ahead of the curve by specifically marketing the quality of its product and the quality of its personnel. It's called Capitalism, the owners make money, the stock holders make money, the employees make money and the customer is rewarded with a gratifying and affordable product.

[1] http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Starbucks_Corp/Hourly_Rate

[TimN]

10:48 AM on 03/30/2008

Many food chains are more than happy to pay the federal minimum wage of $5.85/hr. Starbucks is well above that with an average hourly wage for a common barista at $8.03. It's called "market rate". My state, for example, follows federally mandated minimum wage guidelines, but few businesses are able to hire in my area for less than $7.00/hr. My local Starbucks pays $8.50/hr (I asked just this morning). If you demand more than that the business will go out of business; liberal mission accomplished - no jobs. Starbucks has only been able to stay ahead of the curve by specifically marketing the quality of its product and the quality of its personnel. It's called Capitalism, the owners make money, the stock holders make money, the employees make money and the customer is rewarded with a gratifying and affordable product.

[Harrier]

08:42 PM on 03/29/2008

I will ever put a tip in anything less than the hand of the person who deserves it

[neogejo]

07:41 PM on 03/29/2008

Okay. Then I refuse to pay my taxes. I refuse to obey the law.
I REFUSE to drink that crap you call coffee.

This is the sign of the times, people.
We have mega-corporations who decide that they are above the law.
HEY, STARBUCKS, NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

People , we must rally against big corporations like Starbucks when they blatantly mistreat their workers, or refuse to follow a decision made by the courts.
This is serious.
This mega- money maker took tips from the people who gave the services and spread them among their shift supervisors as if they were bonuses.
How wrong is that??????????

How wrong is it that every time I reach a corner in NYC I must be assualted by a Starbucks. Most of the time they have three stores on the intersections. It is disgusting.
So is their coffee.
It used to be quality coffee but they must have succumbed to the mighty dwindling dollar and settled for the far less superior beans.

It is time people. This is a caffeine revolt.

Hear me almighty Starbucks. I refuse to sip your tainted brew until you have righted your wrong.
Give the baristas what is rightfully theirs. Also give your shift supervisors the bonuses they deserve from your profits.
My lips will not blend with a Starbucks Java blend until you do!

[alambique]

06:46 PM on 03/29/2008

If they aren't supervisors, working in a supervisory capacity, then don't call them that. Sounds like it was a lawsuit just waiting to happen.

Maybe this is just another example of the previously noted Starbucks obfuscation of simple English.

Barista, I wanna buy everybody in the house a venti, grande, whatever.

[Moarku]

06:20 PM on 03/29/2008

The ruling was ridiculous to begin with. If the shift supervisors were taking a share of the tips, your beef is with the shift supervisors, not the head office, which received nothing from them (and that's ignoring the question of whether shift supervisors have a right to the tips or not). Of course it's a lot easier to go after the big head office than it is to go after thousands of individual shift supervisors who were the ones who actually benefited from the tips.

Not to mention, that the only real beneficiary of this ruling is the lawyers of the class action suit who will be probably be getting TENS OF MILLIONS, whereas the people it's supposedly supposed to help - the baristas - will be getting a few bucks here and there. This whole thing is a joke.

[lucky54]

06:07 PM on 03/29/2008

Starbucks never had a chance to make penny from me - never liked their coffee, never liked their attitude.

[whiteboyblues]

05:50 PM on 03/29/2008

That's why I don't drink Starbucks, nor do I shop at Walmart.

[vandegrasse]

03:49 PM on 03/29/2008

If I disobeyed a court order I'd be slapped with a hefty fine or put in jail. Corporations can just snub their nose at the judicial system because really in their minds it doesn't pertain to them. The sad part is that it doesn't. They can get away with murder or whatever they want. Of course, the Bourbons thought this also before 1789, but then this isn't France; this is America. land of the I-don't-give-flips!

[rwe]

03:31 PM on 03/29/2008

next time hand the tip directly to the Barista

[mickyx65it]

03:12 PM on 03/29/2008

A coffee at Starbucks is a contribution to warmongering Zionism.

Written by Howard Schultz, CEO Starbucks
Tuesday, 11 July 2006
Dear Starbucks Customer,
First and foremost I want to thank you for making Starbucks the $6.4 billion global company it is today, with more than 90,000 employees, 9,700 stores, and 33 million weekly customers. Every latte and macchiato you drink at Starbucks is a contribution to the close alliance between the United States and Israel, in fact it is - as I was assured when being honored with the " Israel 50th Anniversary Friend of Zion Tribute Award" - key to Israel's long-term PR success. Your daily chocolate chips frappucino helps paying for student projects in North America and Israel, presenting them with the badly needed Israeli perspective of the Intifada.