White Starbucks Manager, Awarded More Than $25 Million in Racial Discrimination Suit, Gets Another $2.7 Million

A Former Starbucks manager who won $25.5 million in a discrimination suit against the coffee empire, will receive an additional $2.7 million for back pay as well as other damages, according to court records.

Sharon Phillips, who is White, oversaw the company's operations in the mid-Atlantic region, and claimed she was fired because of racial discrimination.

Her lawsuit came after a worker at a Philadelphia Starbucks called the police, who arrested two Black men after they asked to use the bathroom before placing their orders.

In her lawsuit, Phillips alleged that the company "took steps to punish white employees who had not been involved in the arrests." She claimed she ignored guidance to put a white employee on administrative leave for alleged discriminatory behavior she believed was false.

She was then fired, and later sued the coffee giant claiming her "complaints of race discrimination were a motivating and/or determinative factor in Defendant's [Starbucks] discriminatory and retaliatory treatment" towards her.

In June, a jury found that Phillips was discriminated against and awarded her $25.6 million.

On Wednesday, the court ordered that the company pay Phillips an additional $2.7 million in back pay and what she would have made at the company had she not been fired, according to court records.

Starbucks did not immediately reply to The Messenger's request for comment.