White Starbucks manager wins $25m payout after staff refused bathroom access to two Black men

A white Starbucks manager has been awarded $25.6 million after a jury found the company guilty of firing her over the colour of her skin.

On 12 April, 2018, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson - two Black men - were arrested in a Starbucks in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia.

The behaviour which supposedly warranted staff to call the police? Asking if they could use the cafe's toilet while they were waiting for a third member of their business meeting to arrive.

A Starbucks manager, Shannon Phillips - whose staff refused Nelson and Robinson access to the bathroom - was fired by Starbucks and has since won her legal battle against the company, arguing she was dismissed because she's white.

Robinson and Nelson reportedly sat down at a table prior to ordering, waiting for the third member of the meeting to arrive. One of them asked to use the loo, but an employee at the cafe said no. They were later approached and asked if they needed anything, to which the businessmen responded they were waiting for a third person, as per The Guardian.

Before their business associate had even arrived, Nelson and Robinson were asked to leave, and after they refused, soon looked up to find police walking towards them, NBC Philadelphia reports.

Recordings of the arrests became widespread on social media and calls grew to boycott Starbucks, the cafe accused of racism - with Democratic mayor, Jim Kenney, reflecting on the incident as 'emplify[ing] what racial discrimination looks like in 2018'.

At the time of the incident, Phillips was the manager of around 100 Starbucks stores in Philadelphia, as well as Delaware, Maryland and South Jersey, and despite not being directly involved in the incident, found herself fired soon after.

Phillips subsequently decided to sue Starbucks, claiming she was fired because she's white - a way, she said, to control damage to the cafe's reputation.

In the lawsuit, Phillips claimed she was ordered by a superior to suspend a white manager who didn't oversee the Rittenhouse store, but others in Philadelphia, the superior accusing them of discriminatory conduct which Phillips denied is true.

On the other hand, the manager of the Rittenhouse branch - a Black man - was stated by Starbucks as having 'never intended for these men to be arrested' in a press release. Phillips alleged the employee had been promoted, as per the New York Times.

After Phillips refused to her superior's demands, she was fired and reportedly given no explanation apart from: "The situation is not recoverable."

In court filings, Starbucks said Phillips - who was promoted to her role after six years as a district manager in Ohio with 'exemplary performance' - was fired because she 'failed in every aspect' of being 'a leader who could perform' in the wake of the Rittenhouse incident.

However, Phillips argued she did step up to the role, such as helping get cover for employees scared to go into work because of the protests against Starbucks and was fired because of her skin colour.

On Monday (12 June), Phillips was awarded $600,000 in compensatory damages and $25m in punitive damages. Starbucks was found guilty by the jury of violating her federal rights and Phillips having faced racial discrimination from the company.

Phillips' lawyer, Laura Mattiacci, reflected on Phillips being 'very pleased' with the verdict.

Nelson and Robinson were freed and the charges of trespassing and disturbance were dropped. They later reached a financial settlement with Starbucks and worked with the company on new policies and investigations into any complaints of discrimination.

Robinson said: "I want to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. So what I want is for a young man or young men to not be traumatized by this and instead motivated, inspired."

UNILAD has contacted Starbucks for comment.