Mayor Eric Adams announced a $38.9 million settlement with Starbucks on Monday over violations of New York City’s law guaranteeing fair working conditions, a resolution that city officials said was the largest worker protection settlement in the city’s history.
The city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection found that Starbucks had violated the law more than half a million times since 2021 by failing to provide workers with stable schedules. More than 15,000 hourly workers are expected to receive restitution payments under the agreement.
Workers have complained for years that the coffee behemoth was cutting their hours and refusing to give them predictable schedules. The city found that the company “arbitrarily cut schedules and illegally prioritized their own profits over their workers’ rights” across more than 300 locations.
“With this landmark settlement, we’ll put tens of millions of dollars back into the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers and reinforce every New Yorker’s right to a reliable schedule, full hours and basic dignity,” Mr. Adams said in a statement.
The city’s Fair Workweek Law was approved in 2017 by the City Council. Fast food employers must give workers regular schedules that stay the same week to week, must provide schedules 14 days in advance and cannot reduce hours by more than 15 percent without “just cause or a legitimate business reason.”
Starbucks said in a statement that the law was “notoriously challenging for businesses to navigate.” The company said that the violations were “about compliance” and “not about withholding wages or failing to pay partners.”
Mr. Adams, a Democrat who will leave office at the end of the month, has criticized Starbucks and stood with the workers, posting photos two years ago from a meeting with them.
His successor, Zohran Mamdani, has also embraced Starbucks workers and supported a strike by some of the company’s unionized workers to help them secure concessions during contract negotiations.
“While workers are on strike, I won’t be buying any Starbucks, and I’m asking you to join us,” Mr. Mamdani posted on social media last month.
On Monday, Mr. Mamdani planned to appear with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont alongside striking workers at a Starbucks store in Brooklyn. Mr. Sanders endorsed Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist who could embrace more worker-friendly policies as mayor.
Starbucks Workers United, which represents more than 12,000 baristas at over 600 locations, voted to authorize a strike at some stores last month. The strike has lasted 19 days as workers demand better hours, higher pay and the resolution of unfair labor practice charges.
New York City’s investigation found that most Starbucks employees never received regular schedules, making it difficult for them to manage child care or second jobs. The company also “routinely and unlawfully reduced employees’ hours by more than 15 percent,” the city found, which made it difficult for them to get by.
Under the settlement, most employees who worked for Starbucks in an hourly position from July 2021 through July 2024 will receive $50 for each week they worked. An employee who worked at a store for a year and a half could receive nearly $4,000.
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, covering Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
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