Starbucks has been ordered to pay baristas in California over 100 dollars in back tips that had been unlawfully split with shift supervisors. California law prohibits supervisors from taking a cut of the tips employees make, and although the shift supervisors make little more than regular baristas, the court ruled that they qualify as supervisors. Starbucks representatives have stated that the ruling is unfair, and that they will appeal.
If the ruling stands, I have no idea how they’re going to figure out how to pay those tips back. Many people who this ruling applies to probably don’t work there anymore – myself included. How will they track us all down, and besides that, how will they know how much each person is owed? As I remember it, splitting the tips was a mostly informal affair, and I’m not sure how well, if at all, they were tracked officially. Plus, I actually think that the shifts deserve a cut of the tips. They know everything that a regular barista knows, they work just as hard, and in addition to the regular barista duties, they deal with all the issues that come up during the day – clogged toilet? Tell the shift. Irate customer? Tell the shift, that’s why they get paid a few dollars more per hour. But I’m not the only Starbucks-y person here (Issac, I’m looking at you), so what do you guys think?
