Starbucks has recently settled to pay nearly $35 million to more than 15,000 workers in New York City. This settlement directly responds to harmful practices involving unstable scheduling and arbitrary hour reductions. By 2022, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) opened an investigation. This choice followed thousands of internal complaints from workers at over 200 different Starbucks stores.
What started as an investigation based on a few complaints snowballed into a citywide action affecting hundreds of Starbucks locations. The DCWP found that millions of workers suffered from unpredictable schedules. This was enough to push the coffee giant into officially making a move.
Starbucks will reinstate or pay back employees who were adversely impacted as part of the terms of that settlement. Eligible hourly workers will get $50 for each week they worked during that time period. The full value of the settlement, including the concessions, is about $38.9 million. This total incorporates $3.4 million set aside for civil penalties under the DCWP settlement agreement.
Unique as it is, Starbucks is doing more than handing out financial rewards. In addition, they are allowing displaced workers the chance to get their jobs back at other open franchises. This action addresses the impact from the current worker strikes. In particular, it zeroes in on the problems Starbucks is stirring up in New York City.
The union representing Starbucks workers, Workers United, is currently striking at over a dozen locations across the country. Most of these strikes are erupting in New York City. This nationwide strike began last month and has raised questions about the number of affected stores and the overall impact on operations. What the strike’s reach is and what that means are still points of disagreement between Starbucks and the union.
Anderson, a WEA member who represented teachers in the statewide collective bargaining process, reflected on this issue’s big-picture significance.
“This (law) is notoriously challenging to manage and this isn’t just a Starbucks issue, nearly every retailer in the city faces these roadblocks.”
With hundreds of shops across the city, Starbucks is one of the city’s largest employers, and thus an important component of the urban economy. This latest settlement is intended to address employee concerns in a more upfront manner. It confronts the confusing web of labor laws that burden so many retailers.
