Court rules in favor of Starbucks managers who filed overtime lawsuit

A federal court is allowing two Starbucks managers to invite others to join their lawsuit that contends the coffee chain denied them overtime in violation of federal law. The managers say they're paid salaries that are higher than what most hourly wage clerks earn, but estimate that less than 10 percent of their time is spent on managerial tasks -- and that, they contend, doesn't make them exempt from overtime pay. (Associated Press)

Comments

DM's tend to be loose lipped when it comes to their managers that perform well:) There seems to be politics in any corporate industry depending on the region. So yes would seem to be the answer to your question.

Maybe the fast food industry needs to turned on its head. The status quo for fast food workers sucks or else we wouldn't threaten our unruly children's futures with flippin burgers for a living if they don't straighten up.

I think this decision is a set in the right direction and hopefully just the start of something new for US labor law.

As someone who works for Starbucks I have much respect for a manager who spends a good deal of their time on the floor helping the baristas with their job. Backroom managers tend to be dillusional about the amount of work that a barista does in a given shift. I understand the frusteration of these managers who feel like they should be compensated for time worked on the floor.

Time worked equals time paid should be applied universally and not just to people making a substandard and easy to pay wage such as myself.

When was the last time you saw an investment banker working 80 hours a week complaining about time work = time paid

I managed a 35k+ a week drive-through for a year. If you are consistently 3% under, you uare screwing your team out of some much needed coverage. Why not give one of your high performers some more hours and you can get more time off the floor to work on all those things you claim not to have the time to do. -3% is a lot of missed sales opprotunities.

You are not screwing them out of anything IF YOU are WORKING along side YOUR TEAM!! And the goal of ANY company is to save $ and labor. Being on the floor helps you to understand what your partners are going through and helps you to connect with your customers...this in turn will increase revenues and help to build a stronger foundation for the future growth of your business. If you have only managed that volume of a store for 1 year, you really need to get more experience and your hands a little more dirty to understand that time worked SHOULD = time PAID for EVERYONE!! And for the previous comparing an investment banker to a Starbucks Manager...GIVE ME A BREAK!! Have you SEEN what Investment Bankers make....I don't think ANYONE would ever complain making 6 digit incomes!

you complain about everyone should get time worked equals time paid you should be able to back up your statement. We can't selectively argue a point like that just becuase it suits us. If you can't justify it for an investment banker you cannot justify if for a SBUX manager. This is a decision that would affect all salary exempt people not just restauranteers. That is the problem when you get to focused and narrow-minded.

Learn to read and understand before you make off-handed remarks! I never said anything about Investment bankers not deserving to get paid for time worked. I just said the wouldn't complain about it. Their jobs are truly management. The only management jobs that changing things would affect are the one's that are not TRULY management! If you are considered a general manager and actual do Administration work the MAJORITY of the time, then you are fine. But if you are considered exempt management, but are actually asked to work the MAJORITY of your time as a barista...then YOU deserve a change in the way you get paid, or in your job description!

Your goal is not to save money, it is to make money by growing your business. If you are consistently under on labor, you are not doing your job. There is not a DM in the company who wants you to come in that far under labor on a weekly basis. You need to spend less time being a barista and more time building sales. Its no wonder you don't consider yourself a manager...you don't work like one.

You must not be or KNOW many DM's or Regional Directors!!!

And another thing...ANY DM will ASK their stores to help balance out labor for other stores who are running over in labor...DM's DO care about maximizing THEIR bonuses!

[MGR2]

Wow. Texas is a crappy market. If it's such a "fast growing" market, you'd think you would be staffed for the future at 110%-- not running so far under. 3% under is ridiculous and anyone who has finished the ALS 201 module would know you weren't driving your business. Basically you worked your ass off for 6 years for no reason, other than to complain. Do you use all capitals in your emails at your new fancy area manager job?

Aren't you just the most mature and articulate person around:) You must be miserable or just a tad bit bitter at others for having more success or knowledge than you. I hope you are extremely happy being someone else's underpaid lapdog. And the capitals are to emphasize things that you simply DO NOT GET!

Actually, I do know a lot of DMs, RVPs and RDOs. None of them are short sighted enough to live quarter to quarter like that. Live quarter to quarter, die quarter to quarter. A DM would be totally out of line asking you to balance out his/her district by under-staffing your store. I just don't think you are sharing the whole story with us.

I think you are being a little naive and narrow minded. You live in a perfect world in which everyone behaves exactly the way we would all like for them to. A world in which people are only interested in doing what is best and right for everybody. Wake up! Do not be so short sighted as to think that Starbucks and all of its upper level managers have only yours and your partners and your stores best interest at heart. They are out to make themselves look good, even if that means sacrificing some of its team members along the way. Its good that you think you "know" upper management. Maybe someday it will help you to be compensated completely for what you do. I am glad to see that you are passionate about your job and the company...maybe people like you will help Starbucks continue to "stay small, while growing big". And the whole story is that there are some regions and departments within this company, like many other companies, that do not play a fair game. If you are content where you are at, then by all means keep doing it. Just do not become one of the people that do not reflect the core values of Starbucks.

[rofo]

".I don't think ANYONE would ever complain making 6 digit incomes!"

Want to bet? I'll take it one step further and bet their arguments would parrot those said here by the people who are complaining.

You know what..if anyone thinks that they deserve more compensation...then they can stand up for themselves to get more compensation. Even those making 6 digit incomes. And squak all you want about people complaining, but until you get out of your narrow minded, the whole world is perfect, rose colored glasses sort of mentality and learn to see the flip side of every situation. I guess ignorance really is bliss for you.

I love people who think that low to mid 5 digit incomes is enough compensation. Especially for those with families. I hope everyone who defends mis categorizing Store managers as exempt, while letting them work as if they were non-exempt, can afford lots of fabulous Wal-mart clothes for themselves and families:)

[ROXIE]

I noticed the people who complain the most seem to be those who never worked in other industries. Try managing a construction site - sure you can be making about 6 figures a year with perks - but you will have weeks where you work 110 hours a week. Seriously - if you are consistantly working 50+ hours a week you are not managing your time or your store correctly. Sbux gives you all the tools to do it correctly.

If you need help from the outside take a Frankling Covey time management class - sounds like you need one.

Actually those of complaining come from all walks of life with work history and personalites that are extremely diverse. Some of us come from industries that did require that we put in more hours than humanly should be expected to make a good income. Some of us even worked 2 and 3 jobs at a time while going to school full time. Some of us have even learned to take the time to go to Franklin Covey's time management class before Starbucks even knew Franklin Covey and its managers taught classes. Some of us even learned to spell Franklin Covey correctly:) You yourself sound a little "challenged" in the area of embracing diversity....but I don't think that there is a class for that.

If you can't justify it for all salaried employees how do you think anyone would ever listen to you.

[MGR2]

I think the term Manager tends to be a misnomer at Starbucks. Most of the time we are just "Operators" or "Executors" of whatever policies, procedures, promos, etc that the grand poohbahs in Seattle hand down to us. What are we supposed to manage? Things that franchise operators or other types of managers have to worry about don't really apply to us. We don't write paychecks or create marketing plans. Quite frankly, I think the Florida managers are just lazy. They should try running their own business for awhile and realize all the things that Starbucks gets done for them so they can work their 40-50 hour week.

If you don't create marketing plans for your specific store location, then you aren't growing your business either. Whatever happened to your neighborhood Starbucks that developed it sales strategy around what fit in that area? And if you aren't taking some control, and you are considering yourself an operator...you are just supporting the case that Starbucks needs to reclassify, or recreate your job description. If they don't do that and instead of managing you are just an operator or executor you are not considered exempt. You should be managing your business and leading your team to success.

[MGR2]

Oh for pete's sake, I was supporting your argument. Chill out. I was making a point that perhaps in light of idiot class action lawsuits, then Starbucks may in fact need to reclassify the term "Manager."

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[ROXIE]

Oh snap. You caught me in a typo and assume I don't know how to spell. You must be a pleasure to work for. But, you're right, I am a horrible speller, hence why I have an engineering degree and not an english one.

My observation doesn't mean I need to embrace diversity (and you're really reaching with that one) - it's just a count of people on this site who are complaining. There are a LOT more "I've worked in this industry for XX years and Sbux sucks" than "I've worked for other industries that demand freak overtime, and Sbux sucks."

Besides, I couldn't even imagine working for a company, suing them, and then being happy to keep working there?!?! What ever happened to Job Loyalty?!? If you don't like your job, go find another. There are PLENTY of people who want yours.

PS - I inserted a typo for your pleasure - feel free to point it out.

I did leave Starbucks a few years back, but not because I didn't love my job or the company. I had just finished my MBA and took an area managers job with another large retail company while getting my real estate broker's license. I did take steps to change my future earnings potential. I never slandered Starbucks in any way, just stated that people should be compensated for the "right" job description in the right way. These managers are being paid as exempt salaried managers when most are just glorified baristas, shifts, and ASM's. And personally Roxie I have no desire to retaliate in any way for my past employment, but I do see the other side. Especially since I am still friends with so many people that work for Starbucks currently. And as for job loyalty, I stuck with Starbucks for 6years and 6 months never saying a negative thing. It is a company with a good vision, good product, and some amazing people working for it. Those people are the ones that make Starbucks so very successful, and need to continue to be treated with care and respect. That includes not misclassifying them, underpaying them, or not giving them the best possible job description for what they "actually do". I am extremely pro-work hard for the money that you make, but I am just as passionate that people deserve to be compensated for an oversight on their superiors part, such as actual job description versus actual job performed. And I believe that the only negative but truthful thing that I did say about Starbucks, was actually directed towards some of its leaders in various regions that have somehow forgotten why they came to work for the company in the first place, and are now neglecting/abusing their teams including their managers.

My degree is in english and I still can't spell...don't feel bad.

thank god, such a refreshing post...and with no capitals! :)

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!!! Here you can use these capitals if you want....I promise I won't need them after this post:)

[Maria]

Well where should I begin? With a manager who is never of the floor? Or an ASM who tells me that I need God in my life? Or a DM who thinks I should talk to my manager about my concerns, even when I tell him or her (DM) that I have already done that? Maybe I should start with Partner Resources (HR) that doesn’t follow up on anything….or maybe my ASM and SM shoving my Cup fund donation with my social security # in the back of a file drawer, and then after I rip it up they submit it to payroll TWO MONTHS later…. No I think I should start with the reason why I think Starbucks is so corrupt: BOTTOM LINE PEOPLE: They are growing too fast and have forgotten about what helped build their foundation. Happy employee’s (partner’s)…they can throw all the stock options, matching 401Ks, etc they want at Partner’s, but unless they stop understaffing EVERYWHERE in our Phoenix district… start listening to concerns of their employee’s….they will get what is coming. Starbucks has become too money greedy. They are growing way to fast… just look at the numbers. For any of you poor souls who work for a licensed concept….1.) I feel sorry for you bc bucks admits that it is because of you that their “real” stores can have benefits at 20 hrs a week, and don’t worry about standard’s…they care about keeping your open more than if your making drinks correct. Your license will never be revoked. 2.) SM, ASM…not to worry about standards or procedures. Just be a good soldier and you will have a job. After all it has come to having a heart beat and being a follower to work for this company.

Fortune 100 Best companies to work for? My A*s!

Explain how a company that is bottom line driven still has healthcare for parttime employees. Explain why they moved away from cheap bottled water to Ethos which they make less money on. The list goes on.

Image is evrything to them and they want to appear polished to the outside world. I think the 800%+ mark up on whole beans and the jacked up prices on espresso/ blended beverages will more than make up for new bottled water.

800% markup on coffee. That's a pretty cool number where did you find that.

Let's look at the basic cost of the beans.

1.30-1.40 pound avg for the green beans. Not shipped to the US. 800% of that is 10.40. So yeah you are right. If you dont' include shipping, packaging and roasting to begin with. Then the labor and building costs of having it in a store. Oh whoops those must cost nothing.

Find a genuine gripe, get some data, then complain. That's the order.

If you get your data from Starbucks or the Starbucks CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) brochure you are using biased data, insufficient data, and at times just flat out lies. Starbucks does what it does and then it tells everyone what they want to hear just like every other company has done since the dawn of the corporate world.

Companies exist only for the bottom line if they do not then they are non-profit organizations. Starbucks does not operate in the same manner as lets say a labor union which is a member funded and operated organization that exists SOLELY for the benefit of its members.

Starbucks with no bottom line ceases to exist.

The Ethos water program is great PR. Wal-Mart has 100s of programs for helping the less fortunate as does McDonalds (Fortune Magazines #1 Place for Minorities to Work). My point being is Starbucks is a do gooder in a sea good doing. The Ronald McDonald House foundation has been around longer than Starbucks has been a company.

I've been with Starbucks for quite some time now and I fail to see the difference between it, Whole Foods, Burger King, Mickey D's, any of it.

If you want to fool yourself into thinking that Starbucks is better then continue to do so. Just remember that you are fooling yourself.

They've set you up to miss the forest for the big coffee tree and you fell for it. Open your eyes!

No difference with it and Whole Foods maybe but McD's and B King, you gotta be kidding me. Have you ever worked for one of those companies.

Why is turnover at starbucks 1/5 that of those places.

These fast food chains compensate their managers more than Starbucks ever would....McDonalds has also grown to be the largest fast food chain in the world. At one point Starbucks had stated that just like McDonalds they wanted to explode across the globe...maybe to do this Starbucks too needs to compensate more.

I know how much I got paid running a McDonalds and how much I get paid running an SBUX. The difference isn't much really if you take the whole package and then look at who I am working with now and who I deal with as custoemrs and then look at the hours I have. 45 a week thats it.

[Seanlets]

Wow. A lot of complaining. Work is called work for a reason. We do it because it's necessary. Sbux, like any employer, has both the goods and evils of all businesses. I worked for Sbux for two years then I quit, without notice, because my manager was a backstabbing, manipulative b**** who worried about nothing except the "numbers" so she could receive her blessed bonus and then kiss her ass up the corporate ladder. I reported her and nothing was done. So I quit. Now I'm going back because enough time has passed for me to realize that I'm not a baby - I'm a 30 year-old-man with no true college education and it's no one's fault but my own. I COULD have a degree that allows me to get a job making six-figures, but I don't. Eventually, just not yet. One step at a time. The great thing about Sbux, I recall, is if you don't like a particular store, then transfer. I was a shift supervisor and looking back, I was a damn good one. Hourly plus tips was a good 12 bucks an hour, to make coffee and check the safe every frigging hour. Just realize every single one of you is expendable in ANY job you work in. You are replaceable. Someone else will gladly take the job. I've worked with enough whiners to say, "If you don't like it, then quit."

[BCBroker]

I worked at Starbucks for two years. I made about $15K the first year and $19K the second. Once promoted, I made $24K incl. tips and stocks.

Now I work as a mortgage broker. I had no experience when I started here besides Starbucks and made $100K the first year.

If you are a strong enough salesperson to work at Starbucks, you should get into sales or real estate and stop worrying about the difference between 30K-50K and make double what you've ever made before. Sales is the best paying industry available to those without a college education. Most Starbucks employees have great personalities and sales skills and would be great real estate agents, mortgage brokers or salespeople.

However, I will say that Starbucks looks great on a resume.

Starbucks is a great stepping stone. But that's it, unless you want to be a regional manager someday. And that will take you 4-10 years. Trust me. My best friend is the youngest Starbucks manager in history. She's up for regional and it hasn't been easy. She works her a-- off. And after 5 years she is just starting to get a decent salary (about 50K).

[BCBroker]

By the way, just a quick question:

What does everyone here think that the average District Manager and Regional Manager makes for Starbucks?

Any guesses?

[-m]

BCBroker, I can do better than guess.
A DM will make between fifty to seventy-five thousand a year before bonus. There are many factors in deciding their pay such as; location, number of stores, volume of stores and the success of those stores.
Am RDO Starts off at ninety a year...I don't believe they bonus, but I may be wrong.
Store managers, in my area, have an average starting salary of thirty six thousand. I know some tenured managers who admit to making close to fifty.
Assistant managers are averaging about twenty-nine to thirty a year.
Hope this helps.

[MGR]

RDOs and RVPs do get bonuses.

[-m]

Cool, thanks for clearing that up.
Do you know what their bonus is based off of? I don't relly like asking my RDO ro RVP about their pay.

[JD]

What is a shame is SBUX is a great company. I know because I was a SBUX widower for 5 years. I think it is the middle management more so than the corporate side. The bonuses that D.M. s get and the way their success is judged forces them to push the managers to the highest degree. I remember my wife being on conference calls on her day off for 2 hours at night. Being told to use her vacation to lower labor costs. That's not from corporate, it's a local issue. However when corp is notified, it turns its' back. So a lawsuit results. The benefits are good, but they don't outweigh fair treatment. Managers normally can't fire someone. Locally where we live the DM has to basically do it all. If a barista doesn't like a mgr they have their skip level meetings to trash a manager. So what is a manager? A babysitter until the kids are upset? Or a delivery person, because like one said earlier, if you run short of product, you drive all over town to find more. Gas re-imbursement? NOT! You have to have a cell phone too..Re-imbursed? NOT! Whe my wife was hired, Itold her then the problem. She is married, was a stay at home wife for a long time. The person that hired her said she was exactly what they were looking for. Then she was hired cheap. Yes she built her way up to a decent pay, based on performence. But talk about exploitation. I think it's great on one hand because a woman without an education can work their way up, but they do and will pay the price for the privilege. Maybe a single mom having a hard time gets to be a manager and be able to support her family. But when does she get to see them? They talk about balance of life and work, but they put a weight on the side of work. I could be all wrong, but if it's the case let me ask this- I sent SBUX numerous letters. To the DM, to the regional mgr, and to corporate, because I like the company, but asking them to look into local problems. Absolutley not one response! I own my own company. In fact we contract to SBUX for some of their services. My managers can hire, fire, purchase goods as needed, have company trucks, and comapny cell phones. But when they work overtime, they get paid for it. And we live in a state where we don't have to, but it's the right thing to do.

[-m]

JD-
I do my own hiring, firing and logistics. Sounds like your wife had a hard time managing her time. A Starbucks Manager has all of the responsibilities of a small business owner...and I know because I've done both.
Corporate has always been very responsive to any of the issues you mentioned.

[Lisa]

The District Manager's bonus is based on the snapshot scores for the stores they oversee. There is a tiered structure. All of the stores have to make at least a 90 (or something like that). I am not sure how the RDO's bonus is based. Probably on regional standings and comp sales.

[Lisa]

JD... I was constantly being told by my DM that I had to spend the 40 hours that I was on the schedule strictly on the floor making drinks and anything else that needed to be done was to be done on my own time. Scheduling (2-3 hours each week), ordering, receiving (1-3 hours a week), set up (6-8 hours each), manager meetings (8 hours once a month), travel, reviews (one hour per partner), first impressions (2 hours each new hire), training, and more were to be done on my personal time. I called and reported this to the corporate compliance line numerous times, to no avail.

[MGR]

Lisa, that sucks about your completely wrong DM. In my area we have to explain why we aren't using all our allotted noncoverage. They actually want us to use all 5.5 percent, PLUS an admin day ... amazing.

However, you are wrong about DM bonuses, they are different from ours. It depends on what percentage of their stores are making above a 90, like 75 percent or something like that-- It's not just an average of all the stores put together. I think the RDO's is the same way.

[Anna]

I have been a partner at starbucks for about 41/2 years now.
I have been a shift supervisor for four of those years.
My odds on having a good manager in washington state have been two good ones and three bad at the five stores i've been transfered to. only one of those really being my choice. Its easier for my managers to call in sick than it is for me. should they get over time pay?
hell no thats part of the job. If you don't like it get out of the industry. I am training to be a chef and I know that the hospitality industry is all about long hard hours.
Starbucks in comparison is easy street.
I work from 28- 40 plus hours a week in my store all shifts and I see my manager maybe eight of those hours. and she always has the weekends off or at least some portion. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.
I say quit whining and figure out what your doing wrong in your store to spend that much time there. Hire the right people for criss sake. When you have baristas that arn't capable of being certified in six months I'd say you arn't hiring qualified people. I really don't want to hear qualified people arn't applying either because having taken applications from quite a few qualified people i've noticed that more often than not its the unqualified people that get hired.

I worked for Sbux for over four years and had a great run for the first couple. When they implemented this overtime into out job and required us to only work 40 hours a week everything changed. Everybody knows that this is not a forty hour a week job. I loved when my Dm would say you can only work forty hours a week, then in the next sentence she would wonder why I was not getting my work done. I would always hear you better not incur to much overtime because it will effect your bonus. This is a huge double standard that I kept dealing with that eventually led to my resigning with the company. I loved this company for a long time but in the end I felt incredibly betrayed. Howard sold his soul to the devil. Everything changed when Howard Behar and Bruce Craig left the company and brought in that prick form Pepsi.