Ex-Starbucks manager wins $25.6 million lawsuit over firing of 2 Black men.

A former Starbucks regional manager, Shannon Phillips, has been awarded $25.6 million by a federal court jury after alleging that she and other white employees were unfairly punished following the arrests of two Black men at a Philadelphia location in 2018. Phillips won $600,000 in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages after the jury found that race was a determinative factor in Phillips’ firing, in violation of federal and state anti-discrimination laws. Starbucks denied Phillips’ allegations, saying the company needed someone with a track record of “strength and resolution” during a crisis and replaced her with a regional manager who had such experience.