Ex-Starbucks manager awarded $25.6 million in discrimination lawsuit over firing.

Starbucks has been ordered to pay $25.6 million in settlement money, including punitive and compensatory damages, to a white former regional director who claimed that she was fired for being white. The former employee, Shannon Phillips, sued the company for wrongful termination, claiming that her race was a determinative factor in Starbucks' decision to fire her in the wake of a 2018 racial firestorm. The decision comes after two black men were arrested while waiting for a business meeting at a Starbucks store in Philadelphia, which sparked nationwide protests and prompted Starbucks to close some of its stores for a day for racial bias training.