Baristas fight and win against Starbucks

A week after Starbucks was ordered to refund more than $100 million to baristas in California over a tip pool controversy, the coffee giant was hit on Mar. 25 with a similar lawsuit in Massachusetts. And a Boston lawyer said more lawsuits could be filed in Washington, New York and Minnesota over whether shift supervisors can share baristas' tips. In Suffolk Superior Court in MA, barista Hernan Matamoros seeks restitution for himself and other baristas who worked for Starbucks during the past six years. He claims baristas did not receive the "total proceeds of tips" left by customers because the company allowed shift supervisors to have a portion of them. Shannon Liss-Riordan, an attorney who filed the suit, said Massachusetts' law is even clearer than California's law that "anyone with managerial authority is not an employee who may receive a share of tips." "Every customer who walks in the door isn't necessarily thinking about who's getting the tips, but one would assume it's going to the workers and not the managers," said Liss-Riordan. Last week a California judge ordered Starbucks to pay $86.7 million plus interest, which could push the judgment to $106 million, to thousands of baristas who were illegally forced to share their tips with shift supervisors. In that case, the judge found the shift supervisors were "agents" of the company and were not allowed to share in tips. Starbucks called the ruling "beyond all common sense and reason" and is appealing. Chairman Howard Schultz said late last week the company had no intention of changing its tipping policy outside of California. At Starbucks, tips left in a large jar are pooled and then distributed based on the number of hours a person works during the week among baristas and shift supervisors. San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett issued an injunction that prevents Starbucks' shift supervisors from sharing in future tips, saying state law prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities. The California lawsuit was filed in October 2004 by Jou Chou, a former Starbucks barista in La Jolla, CA. The lawsuit gained ground in 2006 when it was granted class-action status. "I feel vindicated," Chou said in a written statement released by attorneys. "Tips really help those receiving the lowest wages. I think Starbucks should pay shift supervisors higher wages instead of taking money from the tip pool." California is Starbucks' largest US market, with 2,460 stores as of Jan. 8, the latest count available. The Seattle-based company has more than 11,000 stores nationwide. Some of the more than 120,000 current and former baristas affected by the California suit could each receive more than $10,000, said Terry Chapko, a lawyer from San Diego who represented the plaintiffs. The suits in California and Massachusetts reflect a bicoastal collaboration of sorts. Chapko said that his clients' suit was based on dozens of similar complaints that Liss-Riordan had filed in recent years against Massachusetts restaurants, hotels, and country clubs on behalf of service workers who said they were deprived of tips.