Posted on 07/06/2009 5:53:50 PM PDT by Drew68
Starbucks agreed in April to pay a former lead network engineer in Seattle $120,000 plus a mediator's fee to settle a lawsuit that alleges racial discrimination and retaliation "so severe that it required him to take a medical leave of absence."
Victor Washington of Shoreline, who is African-American and worked for Starbucks from September 2006 until May 2008, alleges in the July 2008 lawsuit that a white co-worker made racist comments to him such as repeatedly telling him to "fetch" the co-worker's umbrella and tie his shoes for him. In the lawsuit, Washington says he complained to his supervisor and to Starbucks' human resources department, and that they took no action, although the supervisor increased his workload and gave him undesirable assignments.
Starbucks said in a written statement that it investigated Washington's allegations while he worked there and found them without merit, and that it settled the case to avoid further legal costs.
The company wrote Washington a check for $120,000, which it says in a court filing was "compensation for emotional distress and attorneys' fees." But Washington has not cashed it, and Starbucks last week asked the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to enforce the settlement.
In a telephone interview, Washington said he plans to dispute the amount of the settlement agreement, which he thinks should be $140,000.
"I think they got out extremely cheap as it was," he said. "The only reason I settled was because of issues with my former lawyer."
Washington's former lawyer, Joyce Thompson of Frank Freed Subit & Thomas in Seattle, did not return phone calls. She and attorney Jillian Cutler have asked the court to tell Starbucks to cancel its outstanding check to Washington and cut two separate checks...
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Hello is a white racist term. Please say Yo, which can be followed by "what's up".
Wait until “whites” become the minority, you won’t believe how many countries and continents they come from.
Somebody should've mediated in a gag provision.
Company attorneys don't try lawsuits. They hire out.
Frequently they are wrong, particularly when there's a chance that copy-cats might pop-up.
At the moment I think I recall standing in line behind a minority gentleman and in front of a minority lady and the "boy" behind the counter said "fetch me a cup".
It was quite distressing. And the manager stood there and did nothing ~
I’ve watched one of these “confidential” negotiations take place. Every offer to settle from either side that went before, except for the actual final signed agreement, is (amazingly) not covered by the confidentiality clause.
Possibly. In this case a suit actually was filed. In some cases, no suit needs to be filed when the situation stinks badly enough.
I know some people cry “racism” at the drop of the had and game the system. On the other hand, a company stupid enough to allow bullying behavior (and sometimes bullying is expressed in racism) is just asking for trouble. I have seen bullies who seemed to be rewarded and protected precicely because they were bullies. It is stupid but it does happen.
This is badly prejudging a case in which you are not privy to things that, perhaps, only God and the plaintiff know the truth about. If you believe Starbucks is telling the truth, then why don’t you continue to patronize Starbucks? Surely you’d boycott Starbucks if you believe Starbucks was lying. The global disclaimer of responsibility is standard fare on both sides of almost all negotiated settlements in disagreements like this. Now if something comes out that shows this fellow was really shucking and jiving Starbucks and they folded to be PC, that’s different.
I don’t go to Starbucks because I hate coffee. I’ve heard from many people that their coffee is inferior for its price.
Bullying, sadly, is something that transcends “isms” although they can show themselves through same. In my case, one of the fellows that I believe was in the scheme to smear me, earlier raced to cut off the boss’s car from the nearest parking space at a department lunch out. I thought that was rather cadly of him, but kept my thoughts to myself at the time. Oh, and the boss was a she.
Today, I stopped in Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks. I got takeout for two different people. DD employees looked like they came from several third world counties - Brazil, India. SB employees were white and they looked like the offspring of Obama voters. Clearly there are two different cultures here. I was also struck by the thirty customers sitting in SB. All were white except for two Asians. They looked like Obama voters. I think its a riot that SB gets taken by a black. Serves them right.
There's not enough information in the story to tell what's going on between Washington and his attorneys, but I will make an educated guess: Starbucks probably made the first check payable to Washington and the lawyers jointly, and Washington intercepted it and tried to cash it in order to keep from paying his attorney fees.
A few years ago, I thwarted just such an attempt by a guy who sued and later settled with a bank client of mine. Plaintiff showed up at my office unexpectly and demanded his check. I was suspicious, and called opposing counsel, who informed me that he hadn't paid his bill.
Beware the shark-to-shark network....
And sometimes empty headed bullies make crude racist (sexist, etc.) gestures “just because they can.”
Would you patronize Starbucks if they attempted to scorch earth only to have it all blow back up in their own face?
I once worked with a Hispanic from the Dominican Republic who threatened to file a discrimination lawsuit against my company. Instead of paying, the company unleased their lawyers on him and discovered that several members of his family had discrimination suits in the courts and that this was the third discrimation suit he had filed in 3 years. When confronted by these facts he agreed to sign a waiver clearing the company of any wrongdoing and in return the company would let him keep his job and not sue him.
This happened to me in the 80s. I ran a company that videotaped weddings. I booked a black wedding and used a black guy to tape it. He fit in better than I would. She didn’t like his work and sued me for her money back. I brought the finished video to show to the court that we complied and fulfilled the contract. The white court magistrate wouldn’t look at the video and just gave her, appearing with her little son born before the wedding, her money back.
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