Starbucks keeps DEI initiatives, despite $25.6 million lawsuit loss

Starbucks appears to be keeping their DEI initiatives, even after losing a big lawsuit. The DEI initiatives are still on the main Starbucks website under the Workforce Diversity at Starbucks page. It says the following: "Starbucks is dedicated to being an inclusive, equitable, accessible and diverse company, with a responsibility to help create opportunity and advance equity in every community we serve. We do this by fostering an inclusive culture that values diverse perspectives and experiences. The way we hire, develop and advance our partners (employees) is fundamental to our commitment to inclusion, belonging, equity and diversity at Starbucks."

Starbucks lost a lawsuit and had to pay a former white manager $25.6 million. CBS News reported on that in 2023:

Coffee giant Starbucks has been ordered to pay $25.6 million to a former store manager who a jury determined had been fired because she was White. 

 

The former regional manager, Shannon Phillips, who oversaw dozens of Starbucks coffee shops, was fired by the company in the aftermath of a 2018 incident that took place at a Starbucks in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood of Philadelphia.

 

The incident involved two Black men in their 20s who were awaiting a third party for a business meeting at the Rittenhouse Square Startbucks when one of them, Rashon Nelson, was denied permission to use the restroom, because he hadn't purchased anything.