Starbucks Baristas in New York Suing for Tips

New York, NYAfter Starbucks refused a judge's order to pay back tips owed to their California baristas because it says there is nothing wrong with its policy, a former barista from New York filed a lawsuit on April 3 in Federal District Court in Manhattan that accuses the company of cheating thousands of New York baristas out of tips owed to them. This case is similar to the previous case in California that said the company allowed shift supervisors to share tips with the employees.

The company responded to the claims by saying that customers cannot distinguish between a barista and a supervisor.

The papers filed by the lawyers of former barista, Jeana Barenboim, allege that Starbucks violated a New York state law that keeps the employer or the employer's agents from sharing a worker's tips.

In the 7,000 Starbucks locations throughout the United States, there is a tip jar that is left near the counter where customers check out. The tips are pooled by the workers each week and it is the baristas and the shift supervisors that divide the tips based on the hours that a person worked. Other employees such as the assistant managers and the managers do not share in the tips.

Attorney Maimon Kirschenbaum said that the same pitch is being made in New York that was made in California, which is that the company allowed the shift supervisors a part of what was in the tip jar. Kirschenbaum has asked that the case be granted class action status on behalf of baristas in New York.

As for Starbucks, they feel it is very unfortunate that there have been copycat lawsuits filed within the weeks after the California verdict came down. Starbucks has made it clear that they will appeal. They say that their tip policy allows for all hourly employees, not salaried, to partake in the tip jar. This does include the supervisors along with the baristas. They say that supervisors are not considered managers and do not have the authority of a manager, but do work that is similar to that of the baristas. However, a barista for the Union Square Starbucks, Liberté Locke says that she is torn on the issue.

Locke says that Starbucks does see their shift supervisors as management because they have keys, handle cash, and are responsible for locking the doors. When the managers are away, they are responsible for the store operations and they have the authority to discipline baristas. Yet they are paid considerably less than a manager and they work alongside the baristas. She says that after three years she was making $10.03 an hour when a shift supervisor makes $10.25 an hour.

In a voice mail that Howard Schultz, chairman of the company, recorded, he said that the ruling in California was unfair and there was no reason behind it. To the employees, he said that the company would never condone any behavior that would result in money being taken from employees.

But this is just another notch in the belt for Starbucks when it comes to trouble. In 2007, the company was found to violate the federal labor law a total of 30 times, which included the firing of two employees because they supported an effort to form a union.

The amount that is being sought in this latest lawsuit is $5 million for approximately 2,000 workers who had to share tips with supervisors.

By Ginger Gillenwater