White ex-Starbucks manager who had two black men arrested sues company for racial discrimination after being fired

A manager of a Starbucks store in Philadelphia who was fired after two black men were arrested in her branch, for no apparent reason, has filed a racial discrimination case against her former employers.

The incident occurred in April 2018 and led to a massive international outcry against the treatment of the men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, who were taken into custody after they asked to use the coffee shops bathroom.

The duo had not purchased anything and were merely waiting for a friend but was still deemed to be breaking the law according to the manager, Shannon Phillips, who was sacked from her position after the footage of the moment went viral.

Now, Phillips is claiming that Starbucks is actively discriminating against their white employees, who weren't even involved in the aforementioned arrest, in an effort to convince the wider world that it had "properly responded to the incident."

Starbucks reportedly closed around 8,000 stores in the US last year, just so 175,000 members of staff could attend a racial bias educational class.

In the lawsuit that Phillips has filed, she states that she was made to place a white employee on leave because of a racial discrimination claim, which she says that Starbucks knew wasn't true.

She also says that a black district manager, who was overseeing the Philadelphia store where the arrests took place, was not fired and was not subject to any action against.

Phillips was fired just a month after the viral incident, with the company stating their reason as; 'pre-text for race discrimination.' The former manager has also complained that her replacements were "less qualified employees who had not complained of race discrimination" and had not been working in the Philadelphia area prior to the arrests.

She is now seeking punitive and compensatory damages against Starbucks whose dismissal of her resulted in "pain and suffering, emotional upset, mental anguish, humiliation, and loss of life's pleasures."

Speaking to ABC News, a spokesperson for the coffee company said:

We deny the claims in the lawsuit and are fully prepared to present our case in court.

HT Newsweek

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