Starbucks Illegally Excluded Union Stores, NLRB Judge Rules

Starbucks Corp. violated federal labor law by excluding union stores in California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Maine from a switch to a weekly pay cycle, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled.

The company penalized past and present organizing activity by denying the payroll change in 2022 to stores that voted to unionize or were in the process of unionizing, Administrative Law Judge Kimberly Sorg-Graves held Friday.

“By demonstrating that Respondent was willing to make good on its threats, it also signaled that future exercise of employee rights might be penalized, possibly chilling prospective activity,” she said.

Sorg-Graves ordered Starbucks to ...