Troubles Continue for Starbucks

For the past few years, Starbucks has contended with large wage and hour class action lawsuits filed by managers alleging they were misclassified as executives exempt from overtime under the FLSA. Now, as reported a few weeks ago, Starbucks' FLSA troubles continue with new wage and hour cases alleging violations of tip sharing regulations. Since the California settlement was reported, new cases have been filed in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York. Like the California action filed by Jou Chou, these cases allege that Starbucks' policy of splitting tip pools among baristas and shift supervisors violates applicable laws. The plaintiffs in each action seek to represent thousands of individuals and claim multi-millions of dollars in back wages. We intend to follow these cases on our blog and will keep you posted.