Starbucks Ordered To Pay More Than $100 Million In Back Tips

Amazing why restaurant employees in the US makes less than everyone else. Talk about being in
a country so backward and it is called the USA and there are people who believe the USA is Number One. I know for sure that the Number One applies to being totally out of the loop and having no clue
about the rest of the world - in other words "brainwashed." Meals are expensive enough when one
goes out to eat so why can't the staff make acceptable living wages?

I don't understand why anyone should tip at all at Starbucks. It is not a restaurant. I see no difference between a worker at Kinkos and a worker at Starbucks. Place an order at the counter and then recieve your goods. No hour and a half involvement with mutiple trips in and out of the kitchen, no extensive service to ensure a great dining experience. And the wages at Starbucks are different than for wait staff in a restaurant. I have actually seen where restaurant owners make the waitstaff deduct the credit card percentage for all tips paid on a credit card. American express is the highest. Bottom line - Starbucks is trying to get away with paying low wages to management at baristas and our expense. I can't stand "tip" jars that you see now at pizzarias, donut shops, etc. Maybe department stores will be next. I also loathe the self-serve lines at grocery stores. I have been approached in line to come over to the self-serve, and love it, because it gives me the opportunity to say, very loudly so all can hear "If I thought the money that Mr. Albertson is saving with less staff was passed on to the consumer or to the help in the form of raises and health insurance, I would be happy. But it's not. Find some other sucker."

Never been to a Starbucks and although I generally tip 20% when I dine out or where tipping is customary I hate tipping. When I went to New Zealand there was no tipping as employees are paid a living wage to start with. I'd like to see tipping go the way of the Republican, I mean Dodo.

This is another example of calling someone a supervisor/manager when all they really are are slightly higher paid employees. The slight amount means they still need tips to survive so it's really all bogus corporate bottom line hugging crap.

Tips are for the person the customer gives it to. I liked the old days when you just handed the money to the employee and they had their own personal tip jar. To hell with the socialist system of everyone "sharing" regardless of effort.

Hungry lawyers should be jumping all over this.

Example

Colorado has the same laws in limiting the tip pool members.

And there are Starbuck's here in Ski Country USA.

Valerie O'Neil said the company planned an immediate appeal of the ruling, calling it "fundamentally unfair and beyond all common sense and reason that Starbucks should have to comply with legislation passed by the government. It's not like we can afford lawyers to give us advice on our policies before we implement them."

"This case was filed by a single former barista and, despite Starbucks request, the interests of the shift supervisors were not represented in litigation," O'Neil said. "it's not fair that the judge only allowed the jury to consider the law as written. I mean, we're Starbucks! We are the law!"

I guess $670 million in profits isn't enough of a margin to fairly compensate management. Of course, the natural inclination of any responsible corporate citizen would be to shift that cost to the lowest paid employees in the corporation, even if it is against the law.

Support your local (fair trade) coffee shop. At least then you'll have some idea where your money is going. Life's too short to drink corporate coffee.

1) Tips should not be for any service person who makes more than the restaurant minimum for tipped employees. This typically cuts out carry-out service persons who make full wages-whether or not they negotiated a decent by-the-hour or weekly salary. Carry-out servers expecting tips is ridiculous-they're not specialty wait-service, they're prep people. 2) The sole purpose of any extraneous tip is to reward personal initiative and should never be split w/anyone except back-up bus or bar-backs 3) The idea that the employer has any claim on tips or ever touches the pool is outlandish and wrong headed. They should screw these low-lifes to the wall.

Greedy bastards. Management is supposed to be compensated well, tips are for the ground level employees. Shame on them.

i used to work at starbucks as a supervisor, in fact i recently got a letter about this case and apparently my name is in the case because when it was filed i was just a barista. but....

i think this lawsuit is absolutely ridiculous. i as a supervisor worked hard. making drinks, taking orders, drive thru as well as managing my shift. we deserve tips as well since we do work the register greeting the guests.

assistant managers/managers are the ones that arent usually on the floor.

i hope starbucks wins the appeal.

I think my tipping at Starbucks days are over because I won't be frequenting there. Save a lot of money.

I say close all Starbucks in the US and take them overseas where business is understood and appreciated. Let the 100,000+ employees try to find jobs elsewhere in the US, if there are even any left anymore, where they can then sue for some other stupid reason until lazy, greedy American labor drives all business out of the US. Then they can dig up root vegtables to eat and fight each other for firewood.

That's one "Grande" tip jar!

As a daily Sbucks user, I see the whole crew working hard behind the counter...in fact the "shift supervisor" in the store I frequent is always hardest working dude behind the counter, on the floor, pulling coffee and generally being as efficient and as kind and cheerful as he can be. In fact the only reason I tip at all is because of him. The sleepy barista behind the espresso machine never makes eye contact, never smiles and is largely anonymous. The shift super on the other hand deserves to share in the tips since in truth, he earns it.

Hmmm. Seems like what is identified as success in a culture that values quantity over quality...cool trick Starbucks has, fooling us into into thinking they could bait and switch like that. I am disappointed in their ruthlessness and in the managers' greed, but who could be surprised?
Hovever, what is really terrible, in my opinion is that income from tips is taxed by the IRS. Another level of invasion into our lives and what we do with our money. If you're not big enough to hire a staff of accountants you shouldn't be strapped with the need to defend yourself from the government with its equivalent. Why hobble ourselves with pointless perfunctuary levels of regulation? Remove these beaurocratic hurdles and operations like starbucks could never in a million years compete against local and deserving small business that would add a level of community involvement and awareness the faceless franchises could never achieve...now that would be fairness in action.

Just because California law forbids supervisors from sharing in gratuities is no reason not to excise a portion of them in order to enhance corprate profits. It is the investors who are truly important, not the peons whose labor brings in the income. "Power to the rich" is America's de facto motto. Let the peons eat day old pastries instead of getting any more money. Bah humbug.

How typical is it to take from the poor & give to the rich while claiming to have everyone's best interest at heart. Are these mangement guys crypto republicans? Sure sounds like it.

That's nasty. And another reason not to support Starbuck's.

My son and daughter in law have worked for Starbucks for years. The once-beautiful culture of joy and progress deteriorated into selfish share-valuation methodology. My son complained for a long time about longer hours and less tips. The corporation is heeding the stench of Wal-Mart and is looking out for its own self-interest more than the real image and value they provide. They are no big deal. Coffee is coffee.
Their bubble will burst if they don't take heed. 100 million will create some heeding in a crowd of hedonistic caffeine-heads.

Tips for what?
They pour coffee
Get over yourselfves..

Yea! Good for Chou who had the guts to fight this Giant! This is not an uncommon practice on the part of big greedy companies & corporations. A "shift supervisor" IS a management position & should be compensated as such. If Starbucks can't afford to pay these managers without stealing tips from their servers just so their owners can pocket more profits; then they justly deserve the beating they're taking in the marketplace & deserved to lose this lawsuit

I;m not sure how they do things in California, as a former Starbucks Shift Manager here in South Georgia, we had to work as hard as the "regular employees". Our General manager insisted upon it. But good lortunes to the ones that won the suit.

I wonder if Starbucks will drag this through the courts until they go bankrupt and this ruling is a moot point. Their competition will will keep chipping away at their overpriced,overvalued, product until they're gone. That little exercise of closing all the stores a couple of weeks ago to refresh the baristas on how to properly prepare drinks is a joke,it still cost five bucks for a good cup of coffee.You can call me cheap,but I consider that a foolish waste of money.

STAR BUCKS COFFEE IS $ 44.00 A GALLON ???????

WHO PAYS THIS FOR SWEET POISION?????

I love this - that has got to put a smile on every Starbucker who slaves for a living! "Let justice flows like a mighty river!"

Good! It serves the bastardistas right. Robbing from the poor and giving to the rich has been the business model of the recent past and it needs to stop. This is a start.