Decca Muldowney
Mon, October 17, 2022
Michael M. Santiago/Getty
South Carolina Starbucks workers who were accused of “kidnapping” their boss during a protest have filed a lawsuit accusing the coffee giant of “defamation.” The unionized workers, part of a widespread effort to organize Starbucks stores, say the company “improperly weaponize[d] the legal process” by “falsely accusing them of crimes and seeking to have them arrested.”
The suit, filed on behalf of eight workers at a Starbucks in Anderson, South Carolina, concerns an incident from Aug 1. That day, workers at the store performed a “march on the boss,” a federally protected action in which workers present their boss with a series of demands related to working conditions.
“We are not going to move until some action is taken for our raise. No work is being done on the floor, and no customers are being served,” one worker told the store’s manager, Melissa Morris, in audio published by More Perfect Union on Twitter. Video of the incident was also released by the union, Starbucks Workers United.
The store manager, Morris, is shown on the video speaking to someone on the phone before asking workers if she can leave the store. “Yes,” worker Neil Tripathi replies.
Two days later, Morris filed a police report accusing the workers of kidnapping, telling cops they “would not let her leave until they got a raise” and that one worker “assaulted” her.
The Anderson County Sheriff’s office questioned workers about the incident, but no charges were filed. Nonetheless, Starbucks suspended 11 workers at the store. In a statement posted to its website, Starbucks said that the store manager “felt threatened and unsafe as the result of conduct by 11 store partners.”
They Asked for a Raise—Now They’re Accused of Kidnapping
Now, workers, including Tripathi, claim this statement defamed them by insinuating that they “had engaged in criminal activity.” The suit also suggests that Morris, the store manager, made a false police report “in apparent coordination with Starbucks upper management and its counsel.”
In a statement to The Daily Beast, Starbucks said they were reviewing the suit and “look forward to defending the company against the allegations made.” The company also denied retaliating against workers for union involvement.
“No Starbucks partner has been or will be disciplined for supporting or engaging in lawful union activity—but interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies and procedures that apply to all partners,” the company told The Daily Beast.
Starbucks has engaged high-powered union-busting law firm Littler Mendelsohn to help them fight a wave of organizing at stores across the country. The battle has been ugly, with Starbucks so far firing 129 workers involved in organizing, according to the union. A month after suspending workers at the Anderson store, Starbucks fired six of them permanently.
The union has filed 364 charges against the company with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging unfair practices.
But the suit filed by baristas from South Carolina is the first lawsuit filed by the campaign.
“These workers were called criminals by their manager and by this company, and it was completely unfounded,” said Casey Moore, a member of Starbucks Workers United’s communication committee, “These charges are just holding the company accountable for their actions in whatever way we can.”
Moore says Starbucks has been waging war against the union effort on multiple fronts, firing workers and breaking labor law. The kidnapping charge was just another example of these retaliatory actions, she says.
“It shows the company’s willingness or desire to crush our union in any way that they can,” Moore says.
Starbucks Workers Sue Company For Defamation Over ‘Kidnapping’ Allegation
Dave Jamieson
Mon, October 17, 2022
A group of Starbucks workers in South Carolina have sued the company for defamation after a store manager accused them of assault and kidnapping during a workplace protest.
The lawsuit filed in South Carolina state court revolves around an Aug. 1 incident at an Anderson store where workers approached their supervisor and gave her a letter demanding higher wages ― a common tactic in labor organizing known as a “march on the boss.”
The manager later filed a police report alleging that the workers refused to let her leave the store until they got a pay hike, and that one of them assaulted her ― accusations the workers and their union denied. A spokesperson for the local sheriff’s office later told The State that “none of the allegations” from the manager were true.
Starbucks said in a statement Monday that it was reviewing the lawsuit.
“No Starbucks partner has been or will be disciplined for supporting or engaging in lawful union activity — but interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies and procedures that apply to all partners,” the company said.
A TikTok video of a portion of the incident shows workers lined up around a table where the manager is seated on a cellphone. She gets up to leave and bumps a worker who’s in her path along the table. “Why are you pushing him?” a voice asks the manager. (It’s not clear whether the manager ever used the term “kidnapping,” or whether that was just the charge that fit her allegations.)
The eight workers who filed the lawsuit claim Starbucks injured their reputations by “falsely stating or insinuating that they had engaged in criminal assault and kidnapping and engaged in threatened conduct.”
They say they’ve suffered emotional distress as a result of the allegations.
When workers stand up together, workers win. @Starbucks must end their union busting tactics now. #management#unionbusting#uniontok#marchontheboss#southcarolina♬ original sound - SBWorkersUnited
The workers named Starbucks as a co-defendant in the suit, saying the manager consulted with higher-ups on the filing of her report and took part in a “coordinated response.”
“[Her] statement to police was false ― no employee blocked the exit, and no employee assaulted her,” their complaint states.
Starbucks suspended the workers pending an investigation, and barred them from going on other Starbucks properties.
According to the lawsuit, an attorney for Starbucks contacted the workers’ union, Workers United, following the incident and accused one member of “abusive, belligerent, and menacing conduct.”
That worker, Aneil Tripathi, said Monday that “Starbucks knew exactly what they were doing when it smeared our reputation, painting us as criminals.”
“This case is about more than defamation,” Tripathi said. “It’s about highlighting the disgusting and outright abuse Starbucks will level at their own workers.”
The spat in South Carolina is part of a broader fight between the company and the union campaign, Starbucks Workers United. Workers at more than 200 Starbucks stores have unionized in a matter of months.
Starbucks has opposed the campaign all along, and union members have accused the company of retaliating against them through firings, suspensions and store closures.
The general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board has found merit in many of the workers’ claims, filing more than 20 complaints against the company alleging labor law violations. Those cases are now being litigated.
Starbucks sued for accusing unionized workers of assault, kidnapping
The sign of a Starbucks store is seen in New York
The sign of a Starbucks store is seen in New York
Mon, October 17, 2022
By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) -Starbucks Corp was sued on Monday by eight employees at a unionized South Carolina store who said the company falsely accused them of criminal conduct after they demanded a raise from their manager.
The workers filed a lawsuit in South Carolina state court against Starbucks and the manager at the store in Anderson, a few miles from Clemson University. They claimed the manager urged police to charge them with assault and kidnapping after the workers pressed her for a raise in August.
The store's employees had voted 18-0 to unionize in June.
At least 240 other Starbucks in the United States have unionized over the past year, and the company has been accused of illegal labor practices at dozens of locations. Starbucks has denied wrongdoing.
Starbucks in a statement provided by a spokesperson said it was reviewing the lawsuit.
"No Starbucks partner has been or will be disciplined for supporting or engaging in lawful union activity — but interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies and procedures that apply to all partners," the company said.
According to the complaint, the Anderson workers on Aug. 1 presented the manager with a letter calling for a raise. She then called a Starbucks district manager and falsely claimed the workers were preventing her from leaving the store, the plaintiffs claim.
The manager reported the incident to law enforcement two days later, prompting a weeks-long investigation that included police visiting some of the workers' homes, according to the lawsuit.
The local sheriff's office ultimately concluded the workers had done nothing illegal, the plaintiffs said.
Starbucks released a statement on Aug. 8 saying the manager had felt unsafe and the workers were suspended with pay pending an investigation.
The plaintiffs in Monday's lawsuit said the statement falsely suggested they had threatened the manager and engaged in criminal conduct.
The workers accused Starbucks of defamation and abusing the legal process in violation of state law. They are seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Josie Kao)
By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) -Starbucks Corp was sued on Monday by eight employees at a unionized South Carolina store who said the company falsely accused them of criminal conduct after they demanded a raise from their manager.
The workers filed a lawsuit in South Carolina state court against Starbucks and the manager at the store in Anderson, a few miles from Clemson University. They claimed the manager urged police to charge them with assault and kidnapping after the workers pressed her for a raise in August.
The store's employees had voted 18-0 to unionize in June.
At least 240 other Starbucks in the United States have unionized over the past year, and the company has been accused of illegal labor practices at dozens of locations. Starbucks has denied wrongdoing.
Starbucks in a statement provided by a spokesperson said it was reviewing the lawsuit.
"No Starbucks partner has been or will be disciplined for supporting or engaging in lawful union activity — but interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies and procedures that apply to all partners," the company said.
According to the complaint, the Anderson workers on Aug. 1 presented the manager with a letter calling for a raise. She then called a Starbucks district manager and falsely claimed the workers were preventing her from leaving the store, the plaintiffs claim.
The manager reported the incident to law enforcement two days later, prompting a weeks-long investigation that included police visiting some of the workers' homes, according to the lawsuit.
The local sheriff's office ultimately concluded the workers had done nothing illegal, the plaintiffs said.
Starbucks released a statement on Aug. 8 saying the manager had felt unsafe and the workers were suspended with pay pending an investigation.
The plaintiffs in Monday's lawsuit said the statement falsely suggested they had threatened the manager and engaged in criminal conduct.
The workers accused Starbucks of defamation and abusing the legal process in violation of state law. They are seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Josie Kao)
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