White Ex-Starbucks Manager Wins $25M After Getting Fired over Racial Backlash

An ex-Starbucks regional manager, Shannon Philips, has been awarded $25.6 million by a federal jury after she argued that she unlawfully punished over the arrest of two black men at a Philadelphia location in 2018.

Philips filed a lawsuit against Starbucks in 2019 alleging that she had been unfairly punished for refusing to suspend another white employee amid public backlash over the arrests. Philips a regional manager who oversaw several Starbucks locations across New Jersey and Pennsylvania, argued that race was a factor in her firing.

Philips was awarded $600,000 in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages for violations to her rights under state and federal anti-discrimination laws.

In April 2018, a Philadelphia store manager had gotten two black men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, arrested at a Starbucks shop. They were denied access to the bathroom because they were not a paying customer and had refused to leave.

Both men, were charged with trespassing and was later released with all charges dropped. The incident led to days of protests at the Starbucks location after a video of the arrest went viral. The men later settled with the company for an undisclosed amount.

The city of Philadelphia reached a deal with the men for a symbolic payment of $1 each and a commitment to fund $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs. Starbucks also temporarily closed more than 8,000 stores for racial bias training and promised to open its bathroom to everyone.

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