White former Starbucks regional manager awarded over $25 million in discrimination lawsuit

A New Jersey federal jury ruled in favor of former regional director Shannon Phillips’s discrimination lawsuit against Starbucks on Wednesday, finding the coffee giant violated her civil rights by firing her for being white. Phillips was fired in 2019 when one of the 100 stores she oversaw called the Philadelphia police to escort two black men out of the coffee shop for refusing to leave when asked. Phillips, who was not involved in the situation, claimed Starbucks fired her as part of a corporate measure to improve its image. The incident made national headlines and prompted Starbucks to shut down more than 8,000 locations to give employees racial-bias training.