A former regional manager at a Philadelphia Starbucks was awarded $25.6 million after the jury found that race was a “determinative factor” in her being fired. Shannon Phillips was fired from her job as a regional manager in 2018 after viral allegations that she denied two black men from using the restroom surfaced.

Jurors in federal court awarded Ms. Phillips $600,000 in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages because race was the primary factor in her being fired, which violates federal and state anti-discrimination laws.

A Starbucks manager called the police in April 2018, telling them that two Black men were sitting inside without ordering anything. The police arrested the two men. Ms. Phillips, who was the regional manager at the time, was not present during the call to the police.

The two men sitting in Starbucks, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, were arrested in the Starbucks located close to Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. They were released without charges.

At the time of the arrest, a white man, who was having a business meeting with Rashon and Nelson, said he informed the officers they were having a business meeting.

“What did they get called for?” Andrew Yaffe asked the officers. “Because there are two black guys sitting here meeting me?”

Since Phillips was the regional manager, she was told to put the white district manager, who was not involved with calling the cops, on administrative leave.

In court documents, it states that Ms. Phillips said the reasons she was given to punish the manager were false. Ms. Phillips, according to court documents, protested the manager’s being sent home on leave. About a month after the incident, Ms. Phillips was fired.

She sued the company and told the court that Starbuck’s reasoning to suspend the white manager had nothing to do with the arrest of the two Black men. Instead, she alleged, Starbucks was punishing the manager due to claims that Black managers were not being paid fairly, and the same as white managers.

However, as Ms. Phillips said in court documents, district managers at Starbucks have zero control over salaries.

In the suit, the plaintiff charges Starbucks punished the district manager to look good in the neighborhood where the store is located. Court documents allege the company decided to “punish white employees in an effort to convince the community that it had properly responded to the incident.”

Another employee from Starbucks, also a district manager who happened to be Black, testified that Ms. Phillips was well-respected by her colleagues at work and that she had worked long hours to help the situation at the store after the arrests.

The company vehemently denied the charges. In a statement, Starbucks said that they made the decision to fire Ms. Phillips because they required a regional manager to show leadership skills of “strength and resolution” during an emergency in the store.

When Robinson and Nelson were arrested in Starbucks, videos showing the arrests went viral. A national outcry followed, and the CEO of Starbucks offered an apology to the two men, who also received a settlement plus an offer for free college education if they desired, from the company.

Following the arrests, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said the actions taken by an employee to call the police and have the two men arrested were “reprehensible.”

Mr. Johnson said he had three things to share. “First, to once again express our deepest apologies to the two men who were arrested with a goal of doing whatever we can to make things right,” he said. “Second, to let you know of our plans to investigate the pertinent facts and make any necessary changes to our practices that would help prevent such an occurrence from ever happening again. And third, to reassure you that Starbucks stands firmly against discrimination or racial profiling.”

Simultaneously with their settlement, Robinson and Nelson received a $1 symbolic payment from the city of Philadelphia plus an official promise that a new $200,000 entrepreneur program for young people would be created in the city.

Starbucks also changed store policy and had a shutdown during business hours to train employees with racial-bias education. The Philadelphia Police Department also created a new policy, alerting businesses they cannot misuse police officers.