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In a class-action lawsuit brought forward by a San Diego area Starbucks employee, the chain coffee retailer was told yesterday they broke the law and owe California baristas millions in back tips, plus interest. "Starbucks illegally took a huge amount of money from the tip pool to pay shift supervisors, rather than paying them out of its own pocket. The court's verdict rightfully restores that money to the baristas," Attorney Laura Ho said of the case.
State law prohibits managers and shift supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities and the judge yesterday also put forth an injunction stopping that practice. Despite the law, a Starbucks spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the ruling was "fundamentally unfair and beyond all common sense and reason."
Starbucks owes $87 million in back tips, plus $19 million in interest at the total of $106 million. At the moment, it is not clear how many baristas will be affected by this judgement. Of the 11,000 stores it has nationwide, about 2,460 of them are in California, making California the company's largest U.S. market.
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I've actually got to agree with Starbucks on this one. I used to be a barista there and the "shift supervisors" were also baristas. They had additional responsibilities but were almost always also working the counter or the bar. I never felt disenfranchised sharing my tips (which were around $40 a week) with them.
Even though I am part of the law suite because you're automatically enrolled if you worked there during the time in question, I still feel that this ruling is wrong.
I have to agree w/ manmade.
A shift sup. at most places just means you get a title, more work, more responsibility, all the blame if anything goes wrong, and not that much more in pay.
It's just a glorified hourly position.