Starbucks’ Suspension of 11 Workers Unlawful, NLRB Judge Rules

Starbucks Corp. broke the law when it closed a South Carolina store for two days and disciplined workers for their union activities, a National Labor Relations Board judge held.

NLRB Administrative Law Judge Lisa Friedheim-Weis said in a ruling Thursday Starbucks violated federal labor law by suspending 11 baristas who participated in a “March on the Boss” in August 2022. But she held that the company’s subsequent firing of five workers, three of whom were in the march, was lawful.

The South Carolina cafe unionized in March 2022. In July, the employees walked off on strike to protest failing equipment and declining hours. After the two-day strike was over, five workers re-entered the store after hours to perform a deep clean and prepare it for reopening the following morning.

According to the judge’s decision, 11 workers then participated in a “March on the Boss” Aug.1 to protest Starbucks’ decision to withhold nationwide raises for unionized shops. The manager on duty left the store after the employees expressed their demands and went to the police to press charges.

Starbucks then suspended the 11 employees who marched and fired the five who cleaned the store after hours for violating company policy.

Friedheim-Weis held in her ruling Thursday that firing the five workers was lawful because there was sufficient evidence to show that the company would have terminated anyone who entered the store unauthorized, regardless of their union affiliation.

But the judge held that the 11 employees who participated in the march were unlawfully disciplined, despite the company’s arguments that the workers had created an unsafe environment and therefore lost their protection of the law. Evidence shows that the workers were not out of line by gathering in the store, Friedheim-Weis said.

The judge further held that the company’s decision to shutter the store for two days and then reopen with reduced hours for two months broke labor law because it didn’t bargain with the union first.

Friedheim-Weis ordered Starbucks to wipe the disciplinary records of the 11 baristas and cease all other unlawful activity.

The case is Starbucks Corp., N.L.R.B. A.L.J., No. 10-CA-300921, 3/27/25.