Bill Bumpus Somerville MA - An injury to one is an injury to all

Friday March 21, 6:51 am ET

By Chelsea J. Carter, Associated Press Writer

Judge Orders Starbucks to Pay More Than $100 Million in Back Tips
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A Superior Court judge on
Thursday ordered Starbucks Corp. to pay its California baristas more
than $100 million in back tips and interest that the coffee chain paid
to shift supervisors.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett
also issued an injunction that prevents Starbucks' shift supervisors
from sharing in future tips, saying state law prohibits managers and
supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities.

Starbucks
spokeswoman Valerie O'Neil said the company planned an immediate appeal
of the ruling, calling it "fundamentally unfair and beyond all common
sense and reason."

The lawsuit was filed in October 2004 by Jou
Chou, a former Starbucks barista in La Jolla, who complained shift
supervisors were sharing in employee tips.

The lawsuit gained
ground in 2006 when it was granted class-action status, allowing the
suit to go forward for as many as 100,000 former and current baristas
in the coffee chain's California stores.

It was not immediately clear how many current and former employees are affected by the ruling.

"I
feel vindicated," Chou said in a written statement released by
attorneys. "Tips really help those receiving the lowest wages. I think
Starbucks should pay shift supervisors higher wages instead of taking
money from the tip pool."

California is Starbucks' largest U.S.
market, with 2,460 stores as of Jan. 8, the latest count available. The
Seattle-based company has more than 11,000 stores nationwide.

Starbucks
employs more than 135,000 baristas in the U.S. The company did not
immediately respond to a request for a head count in California.

The
judgment comes as Starbucks is struggling to revive its U.S. business,
where store traffic has slipped amid a sagging economy, rising energy
and dairy costs, and growing competition from cheaper rivals.

The
company's stock has slid more than 50 percent since late 2006, when it
was trading close to $40 a share. Starbucks shares rose 3 cents to
$17.53 Thursday.

Starbucks earned more than $672 million on revenue of $9.4 billion during its 2007 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

The
judge ordered Starbucks to pay $87 million in back tips, plus interest
of $19 million, bringing the total judgment to about $106 million.

The company said it planned to ask the court to stay the ruling while the appeal is pending.

"The
decision today, in our view, represents an extreme example of an abuse
of the class-action procedures in California's courts," O'Neil said.

The
coffee company also took issue with the brevity of the judge's ruling,
which was only four paragraphs, saying she failed to address the
unfairness to shift supervisors.

"This case was filed by a single
former barista and, despite Starbucks request, the interests of the
shift supervisors were not represented in litigation," O'Neil said.

But attorney Laura Ho, who tried the baristas case, said the court's verdict follows state law.

"Starbucks
illegally took a huge amount of money from the tip pool to pay shift
supervisors, rather than paying them out of its own pocket. The court's
verdict rightfully restores that money to the baristas," Ho said.

AP Business Writer Elizabeth M. Gillespie in Seattle contributed to this report.