A federal jury on Monday awarded $25.6 million to a White Starbucks manager who was fired after police arrested two Black men at a Philadelphia store she oversaw, according to court records. The jury said there was sufficient evidence to believe the manager, who was not present at the time of the arrests, was fired because of her race.
Shannon Phillips, a former Starbucks regional director, filed a suit against the company in October 2019 after she said she was terminated for refusing to suspend another White employee amid public outrage over the Black men's arrest, which occurred after one of the men was refused access to a restroom. Phillips alleged that Starbucks retaliated against herself and another White employee in an effort to "convince the community that it had properly responded to the incident," according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court for the District of New Jersey.
Phillips, who oversaw the managers of Starbucks stores in Philadelphia, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland, worked for the company for almost 13 years.
The federal jury found that race was a factor in Phillips's termination and awarded her $600,000 in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages for violations to her rights under state and federal anti-discrimination laws.
A Starbucks spokesperson declined to comment on the jury's verdict. An attorney representing Phillips listed in court documents did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post late Wednesday.
On April 12, 2018, officers arrested Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson at a Starbucks shop in the Center City neighborhood of Philadelphia after the manager called the police to report "two gentlemen in my cafe that are refusing to make a purchase or leave," according to a tape released by the Philadelphia police. Both men were charged with trespassing and creating a disturbance. Police dropped the charges later that night.
Robinson told "Good Morning America" that the incident occurred after a manager said restrooms were for paying customers and asked the men if she could get them any drinks or water.
Following the incident, then-Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross personally apologized to the men and walked back a comment that the officers involved "did absolutely nothing wrong."
The incident sparked days of protests at that Starbucks location after cellphone video of the men's arrest went viral. Less than a month after the incident, the men settled with the city of Philadelphia for a symbolic payment of $1 each along with a city commitment to fund a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs.
The pair also reached a settlement with Starbucks, which said it would close more than 8,000 stores for racial bias training and would also open its bathrooms to everyone, regardless of whether a purchase was made. Previously, it was up to each store manager to grant or deny access to a restroom.
According to her lawsuit, Phillips traveled to the store in the wake of the arrests and put a new team of manager-level employees in place while the protests unfolded.
Phillips said her Starbucks superiors told her to suspend a White employee over separate discriminatory complaints that Phillips believed were false, the suit stated. She said she disagreed with the move but was ordered to comply.
Not long afterward, Phillips was terminated from her position as a regional director and claimed in her suit that Starbucks did not give a reason other than telling her "the situation is not recoverable."
WASHINGTON POST