A white Starbucks manager who was fired after two black men were refused access to a Philadelphia store bathroom was awarded $2.7 million to cover the legal fees associated with her wrongful termination lawsuit, which already awarded her $25 million.
In an order filed in New Jersey federal court on Wednesday, a judge said Starbucks would has to pay Shannon Phillips — a regional manager who oversaw several Starbucks locations across New Jersey and Pennsylvania — $2.7 million.
The court filing is the latest in Phillips’ case with the coffeehouse chain, which began back in 2018 when Phillips claims she was used as a “scapegoat” as Starbucks found itself as the center of a racial firestorm.
The saga unfolded when an employee at Starbucks’ Rittenhouse Square location in Philadelphia called 911 on April 12, 2018, after two black men — Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson — were denied access to the bathroom because they weren’t paying customers.