Ex-Starbucks Manager Wins $25 Million in Discrimination Lawsuit.

A former regional Starbucks manager, Shannon Phillips, has been awarded $25.6 million by a federal court in New Jersey after alleging that she and other white employees were unfairly punished by the coffee chain following the 2018 arrests of two Black men at a Philadelphia location. Phillips claimed that race was a determinative factor in her firing, in violation of federal and state anti-discrimination laws. Starbucks denied the allegations, but the jury found in favor of Phillips, awarding her $600,000 in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages. Phillips' lawyer will also seek about $3 million for lost pay and roughly $1 million on her fee application.