Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on Wednesday his office filed a civil rights lawsuit against Starbucks, accusing the coffee chain of “reverse discrimination” when hiring and paying employees based on race.
“A desire to promote ‘diversity’ does not give Defendant a free pass to discriminate against persons of certain disfavored races (that is, white people, and until last year, multiracial and Asian people),” the 21-page complaint warns. “Doing so violates Florida civil rights law.”
The lawsuit, filed in Florida state court, alleges the illegal racial quotas, compensation, and other practices have caused “financial, moral, and emotional harm to Florida residents” since creating them in 2020. The company, according to the lawsuit, also tied executive compensation to their participation in race-based mentorship programs and excluded people who were not from minority groups from networking and mentorship opportunities because of their race.
Uthmeier is seeking to permanently bar Starbucks from engaging in such practices.
“My office will work to eliminate DEI, root and branch,” he said. “If a corporation weaponizes DEI to impose illegal racial quotas, Florida will hold them accountable.”
In the complaint, the Republican attorney general said reverse discrimination — defined as racism toward people not from minority groups — still constitutes illegal discrimination.
“Employers cannot permit race bias to affect work assignments, performance measurements, pay, training, mentoring or networking, discipline, or any other term, condition, or privilege of employment,” the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidance on racial discrimination, cited in the lawsuit, states.
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Uthmeier is asking Florida’s Tenth Judicial Circuit for $10,000 in damages per civil rights violation that the court deems racial discrimination. The attorney general estimates the total amount incurred could be “in the tens of millions, if not more.” Starbucks operates more than 900 stores in Florida.
Starbucks disagreed with the allegations and maintained it’s following state law, while saying its hiring practices are “inclusive, fair, and competitive, and designed to ensure the strongest candidate for every job, every time.”
