Court Orders Starbucks to Pay $105 Million Tip to Baristas

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Jou Chou, a former San Diego Starbucks barista who worked for the chain in 2004, thought it was unfair that shift supervisors received a share from the tip jar meant for the coffee baristas.

According to California law, managers and supervisory staff may not share in tips given to the regular employees for whom they are intended.

Chou filed a lawsuit in California against the coffee giant, saying that the shift supervisors should have been getting higher wages from the corporation rather than sharing in the tips of the lowest-paid workers.

"Tips really help those receiving the lowest wages," said Chou in a written statement released to the press. "I think Starbucks should pay shift supervisors higher wages instead of taking money from the tip pool."

When the suit attained class-action status in 2006, it attracted national attention and represented over 100,000 baristas and former workers of Starbucks’ California chain stores.

This week San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett ruled in Chou’s favor, awarding $105 million to current and former baristas in California who had worked for the chain since 2000. The monetary amount includes $86 million in lost tips plus interest.

"I feel vindicated," said Chou to reporters.

The Starbucks Corporation has vowed to appeal the decision, saying it was "…not only contrary to law, it is fundamentally unfair and beyond all common sense and reason."

Starbucks claims that its shift supervisors perform almost identical tasks to the regular baristas, and as such should be able to share in the tips.

Representatives from Starbucks said in a statement, "Our shift supervisors deserve their fair share of the tips that they receive from the tip jars in our California stores." Starbucks also says it will "vigorously appeal" the decision, as well as an added stipulation by Judge Cowett that shift supervisors be prevented in the future from partaking in the tip jar.

Local baristas were excited to hear the news. "I'm stoked," said Leekeisha Smith, a barista at a Los Angeles area Starbucks. Certain baristas could receive as much as $10,000, according to Terry Chapko, an attorney for the plaintiffs. Another current barista, Patrick Patterson, told reporters, "I'm pretty happy with the money that I make. I'm not greedy. But if I feel like this is money that has been taken away from me, then yes, I deserve it."

Starbucks has struggled in the last year in its U.S. markets, with sales low and its stock falling.

But the attorney for the plaintiffs in the case has little sympathy for the corporate giant.

Said attorney Chapko, "[The baristas] were subsidizing Starbucks’ labor costs. This is about getting money back to the lowest-paid employees."