ST. LOUIS (Gray News) – The Missouri attorney general filed a lawsuit against Starbucks on Tuesday, alleging the company discriminates based on race and sex.
The lawsuit, filed by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, alleges that Starbucks favors hiring women and people of color instead of hiring based on qualifications.
“Starbucks’ U.S. workforce was 70.9% women and 28.4% men … In other words, since 2020, Starbuck’s workface has become more female and less white,” page 29 of the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit takes issue with several of Starbucks’ diversity goals, including its goal to achieve “BIPOC 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 lawsuit, Bailey says Starbucks also “singles out preferred groups for additional training and employment benefits.”
Specifically, he says since 2012, as part of its “Starbucks Diversity Mentorship Program,” the coffee chain “connects Starbucks in-house lawyers with junior attorneys from diverse backgrounds in one-to-one mentorship relationships.”
“Minorities and women are allowed to participate in this program. But white men are not,” the lawsuit reads.
Commenters on Bailey’s Facebook post about the lawsuit are largely against the filing, with many calling it a waste of taxpayer money.
“Talk about government waste…this lawsuit is the epitome of government waste. Funny you didn’t care about inclusion until it ‘affected’ white men,” one Missourian wrote.
“Absolutely insane and a waste of taxpayer dollars,” another wrote.
But Bailey doubled down on his efforts.
“As Attorney General, I have a responsibility to protect Missourians from a company that actively engages in systemic race and sex discrimination,” Bailey said in a news release. “Racism has no place in Missouri. We’re filing suit to halt this blatant violation of the Missouri Human Rights Act in its tracks.”
Bailey is seeking an order for Starbucks to immediately cease its “discriminatory patterns and practices.”
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