Starbucks Says Axed Manager Mishandled Philadelphia Protests

Starbucks Corp. told a federal judge in New Jersey on Friday that the White former regional director of its Philadelphia area locations lacks proof the company fired her simply to mitigate community anger following the arrests of two Black men at a coffeehouse in the city.

Shannon Phillips can’t “see beyond herself” and was lawfully terminated for her “complete failure to lead her team during a key moment in Starbucks history,” the company said in its motion for summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

That moment arose in 2018 after the manager of ...