Florida Attorney General accuses Starbucks of racial discrimination, calls for investigation
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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida’s Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a complaint on Wednesday, calling for an investigation into Starbucks’ hiring process, accusing the company of racial discrimination.
Moody is calling on the Florida Commission on Human Relations to investigate the coffee giant. She claims the company’s hiring practices go beyond aspirational goals, and are there to reach unlawful quotas.
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On the company’s website, Starbucks discloses that its executives “have compensation tied to our inclusion and diversity objectives.”
In a 2022 press release, the chain vowed to “achieve BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] representation of at least 30 percent at all corporate levels and at least 40 percent of all retail and manufacturing roles by 2025 in the U.S.”
Moody’s complaint cites a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. In it, the court ruled racial discrimination “demeans the dignity and worth of a person to be judged by ancestry instead of by his or her own merit and essential qualities.”
Moody’s complaint said Starbucks’ policies are concerning and that the commission should evaluate if the company could be considered an “abusive work environment.”
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Moody said the “anti-bias” training Starbucks offered to its workers tried to convince white employees that they were “the problem.” The complaint cited a statement from 2018, in which the executive vice president said, “I was bearing witness to my own white privilege. I had to realize that I’m the problem.”
“The bottom line is hiring practices using race-based quotas are illegal,” Moody said. “Starbucks has published publicly available policies that raise sufficient concerns that they are using a quota system, and that compensation is tied to that system. The Florida Commission on Human Relations has a duty to investigate these concerns to ensure that Florida civil rights laws are not violated.”
WFLA.com has reached out to Starbucks for comment.
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