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Friday, March 21, 2008

Starbucks Has Another Fight to the Death on its Hands

posted by on March 21 at 8:21 AM

This one is over managers dipping into the tip jar—which is, um, illegal in California.

A San Diego judge ordered Starbucks to pour more than $100 million into the accounts of its low-wage coffee-servers in California on Thursday after ruling that the company had improperly required the workers to share tips with their bosses.

Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett ruled Feb. 28 that Starbucks’ shift supervisors were managers in the company, and therefore ineligible to be paid out of the tip jar. On Thursday, she assessed the damages: $86.7 million, plus 7 percent annual interest, for all servers—known as baristas—who have worked at any of the chain’s 1,400 California stores since Oct. 8, 2000.

Have a nice day, Howard.

RSS icon Comments

1

Sweet. My sister's going to get a piece of that.

Posted by Matt from Denver | March 21, 2008 8:28 AM
2

Staff Sgt. Ernesto G. Cimarrusti

Hometown: Douglas, Arizona, U.S.

Age: 25 years old

Died: March 10, 2008 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Unit: Army, 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.

Incident: Killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in Baghdad.

Posted by fartf Poe | March 21, 2008 8:29 AM
3

Oh oh, some thread hijacking is going on. (You can delete this comment when you take care of that one.)

Posted by Matt from Denver | March 21, 2008 8:36 AM
4

You folks need to get over this Starbucks obsession. Maybe fartf poon is trying to remind us that there are more important things to worry about.

Y'all is crazy.

Posted by Shaniqua | March 21, 2008 8:57 AM
5

that's kind of messed up, though. my gf worked at sbux for a while a few years ago and eventually became a shift supervisor. while they had to keep an eye on who was coming in and out and stuff, and figuring out orders for pastries and the like, she was still helping to make drinks and clean and shit like that. it's like saying a team lead in a creative team is "management" when really they're just another worker like everyone else with some extra responsibility to make sure the team is doing what they're supposed to do.

"management" as it is typically defined really should be the store manager.

Posted by some dude | March 21, 2008 9:00 AM
6

maybe i don't know the primary points of contention here... but i always thought a shift supervisor was closer to a low-wage server than a manager. they make what? $1.50 and $2.65 more an hour? and they still have to serve customers?

well, i don't think they are managers, and they certainly aren't paid as managers. it's hard to get excited about something that helps one group of low-wage earners and potentially harms another. starbucks will either lower the barista's wages, raise the price of coffee, or reduce shift leaders (so they tip jar can still be shared while no longer requiring the slightly higher wages). only one of those options actually helps all the low-wage earners.

Posted by infrequent | March 21, 2008 9:06 AM
7

Isn't a person sometimes and sometimes not a shift supervisor? Does that mean that if they spend 33% of their time as a shift supervisor, they only get 66% of one share of the tips, or do they just get nothing? I'm not aware of any "management" position that is "sometimes". You're either management or you're not.

Posted by Lou | March 21, 2008 9:20 AM
8

You know - I'm curious to what the job description says... you can bet that Sbux tried to write it so that it straddled typical FLSA exempt-type management duties AND regular FLSA non-exempt retail duties.

If it (and actual day-to-day) leaned towards management duties, this decision is a good one, and Sbux needs to rethink how it classifies employees in their outlets and may have to reorganize their retail structure.

But that makes too much sense and would be good for employees. Chances are they'll just eliminate tip jars.

Posted by Soupytwist | March 21, 2008 9:26 AM
9

Forgot to add: the solution is obviously to have shift supervisors stop helping customers or doing any work that they're no longer getting tips for.

Posted by Lou | March 21, 2008 9:37 AM
10

Are Starbucks employees unionized?

Posted by DOUG. | March 21, 2008 10:01 AM
11

My coffeeshop experience is 20 years old, but where I worked, managers shared the tips if they worked the tips -- i.e., made drinks, worked the register, bused tables, washed dishes. Which was almost every night. Managers didn't make any more than baristas, really.

Posted by Fnarf | March 21, 2008 10:09 AM
12

Just another nail in the coffin for Starbucks...the real problem is the consumer base who can/will not spend monies at this expensive, luxury coffee house.
Budgets are getting tighter, with more $$ going to cover the basic needs of living.
The cost of this lawsuit will be peanuts for the shareholders at the next AGM.

Posted by Kenney | March 21, 2008 10:10 AM
13

2. sock puppet fartf Poe aka Dan Savage War Supporter aka Dan Savage Iraq War troll

Hometown: his mom's basement

Age: 37 years old

Died: any hope for his future died years ago when he discovered the internet

Unit: Dan Savage Was For The War Before He Was Against It Slog Troll Batallion 420

Incident: Another stupid ass spam post that no one gives a shit about

Mentor: 9/11 Conspiracy Theorists

Posted by Gomez | March 21, 2008 10:45 AM
14

@13

Here you go Dan Savage's dittoheads! Have some fun with this. Frost in Wisconsin--riff on that!

Staff Sgt. Christopher S. Frost

Hometown: Waukesha, Wisconsin, U.S.

Age: 24 years old

Died: March 3, 2008 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Unit: Air Force, 377th Air Base Wing, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

Incident: Died in a crash of an Iraqi Army Mi-17 helicopter in Bayji.

Posted by Gomez | March 21, 2008 11:37 AM
15

@13
Gomez YOU don't give a shit about this soldier's death because it is not entertaining. It's not a new asshole licking technique or ironic song lyric. The purpose of these posts is to interfere a small bit with your superficial pathetic trivial sloggers lives. Using a forum provided by the war monger Dan Savage for this purpose is quite appropriate.

Posted by fartf Poe | March 21, 2008 11:43 AM
16

@3

I used to live in Denver. You were in my freshman class. we onitored the bathroom together. I recall you wanted to one day be an uncritical easily lead and entertained dittohead. Congratulations on achieving your goal. Myself, I would have chosen someone other than a war monger for a leader, but hey-it's your life.

Posted by Larrycraig from denver | March 21, 2008 11:56 AM
17

I don't understand why people tip for coffee at all, it is a fast food transaction. Any etiquette book will tell you that one tips for sit down service only and not for take out or cafeteria. Making a coffee drink is not more difficult than making a sandwich but I don't see folks giving money to hardworking deli workers at the QFC, for example. Starbucks, and places like Pagliacci, have prominent tip jars yet you stand in line, carry your own food to the table and bus your own table when done. What service is there to tip for? Starbucks is not more elite than McDonald's, nor is the work harder, they should pay the employee a living wage to begin with. By voluntarily subsidiizing these corporations workers' paychecks you make the job more lucrative and desirable so it is easier for them to find employees whom they then pay poorly. If you think better pay would make the product more expensive, well it already is because you are tipping.

Posted by inkweary | March 21, 2008 12:35 PM
18

@17 - i tip my regular barista two bucks every time on a 3.75 drink. not only does she know my drink, give me a nice conversation every time I get my drink, but she sometimes gives me free drinks or makes the drink a grande when i ordered a tall.

then again, my regular barists works at an independent shop, so i'm not "subsidizing" a "corporation".

but even if i did regularly go to an sbux, the tips go straight to the people working there. so in that case, who they work for is immaterial.

i can tell you, my gf always says that even if you tip a few dollars more than you should, you will probably make that person's day. they might have gone all day with shitty tips, and a few extra bucks will make finishing their shift a little easier.

Posted by some dude | March 21, 2008 12:50 PM
19

@17 I understand the desire to be kind, and you sound very nice. But my question is why do people feel that coffee bar workers or pizza cashiers are more deserving of tips than other minimum wage food handlers? They are not doing the same amount of work a waiter does and the job is not inherently more professional. Whether corporate or independent, you should not be expected to pay for a smile or a pleasantry. Knowing a regular customer's drink is hardly extra service, if you see the same people everyday it would be sheer incompetence not to know what they usually order. Tipping does help keep down worker wages because take-home pay rises and people are willing to stay in what is really a low-paying job, relieving companies from having to pay more to get workers. Look at the amount of the settlement and you will see the extent to which customers are subsidizing Starbucks, and every other coffee bar worker's wages.

Posted by inkweary | March 21, 2008 1:22 PM
20

Haha the sock puppet at 14 and more of the same at 15. You guys ARE like the 9/11 Conspracy Theorists... except even dumber.

Posted by Gomez | March 21, 2008 1:53 PM
21

" you can bet that Sbux tried to write it so that it straddled typical FLSA exempt-type management duties AND regular FLSA non-exempt retail duties."

FLSA doesn't fly in the People's Republic of California; you are only exempt if you spend most of your time with exempt duties. So even "store managers" at most mall retail stores are non-exempt and get their OT if they spend time on the sales floor. I'd imagine Starbucks is the same way.

Posted by Bob | March 21, 2008 6:43 PM
22

This lawsuit is bullshit. Shift Supervisors at Starbucks are basically Baristas who are in charge of the safe and cash registers while the store managers aren't in the store. They are hourly and barely make more money than baristas. Hourly employees get tips, salary employees don't. This is bullshit, it should get overturned.

Posted by brad | March 21, 2008 7:12 PM
23

I am a shift director at Hollywood Video, and to confirm others' comments above, we still have to do all the work that regular guest service reps do, we just have to also deal with shitty customer complaints, count down cash drawers, and fill out extra paperwork for only $.50 more an hour.

I still work the register, handle movie returns, etc. We share what few tips we get (usually regular customers who know us personally or those amazingly rare customers that tell us to keep the change) because we all did the same amount of work, but I could get in more trouble for neglecting paperwork or ignoring the bank deposit than if they decide not to stock the soda case.

If the Starbucks case is similar (and it looks like it is, based on other comments) then this ruling is complete b.s.; you could probably ask the other employees and they would agree. Minus whatever resentful and greedy employee went combing through California tip law in the first place.

Posted by Rosalie | March 21, 2008 11:19 PM

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