Starbucks Sued By 2 Ex-Workers

Two former Chicago-area employees of Starbucks have filed federal lawsuits against the Seattle-based coffee company accusing it of age, race and sex discrimination.

The lawsuits were filed by Traeci Coleman, a former Midwest regional coordinator, and Lynn Kowats, former regional manager for human resources. Each lawsuit asks for $1 million in compensatory and cost-benefit damages, plus punitive damages amounting to 10 percent of Starbucks' net worth, which is about $87.5 million.

Starbucks said in a statement that it unequivocally denies the allegations described in a wire service story on the lawsuits.

"Starbucks Coffee Co. takes this case very seriously and in no way has discriminated against any employee," the statement said. Spokeswoman Laura Moix said the company wanted to make it clear that the lawsuits were filed by people who had been dismissed "for professional reasons" and that the lawsuits were filed after their termination.

She said she could not respond further because the company had not yet received copies of the lawsuits.

The lawsuit filed by Coleman, an African American, alleges that Stuart Fields, vice president of the Midwest region and her direct supervisor, discriminated against her numerous times, including one incident when he told her he wanted to call her "Toby, you know, Kunta Kinte's baby," a reference to the television miniseries "Roots."

The suit alleges that Fields was aware that Toby was the name the slave owner gave Kunta Kinte and that he had called a white former secretary by the same name to indicate that she was his slave.

After the incident, Coleman says, Fields took away many of her responsibilities, ostracized her, excluded her from meetings and otherwise undermined her ability to do her job.

Coleman was fired in February 1992.

Kowats' lawsuit alleges she was fired after she witnessed the Toby incident and advised Fields to call Coleman by her given name. Kowats, a white woman over 40, alleges that Fields made derogatory statements about her age after she complained about his behavior on numerous occasions. She was fired in March 1992.

Both Coleman and Kowats had filed complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in early 1992. When the commission was unable to resolve the matter with Starbucks, it allowed Coleman and Kowats to file the lawsuits, said their attorney, Edward Stein.

Stein said the discriminatory atmosphere at Starbucks was not created by Fields but was perpetuated by him. As an example, he cites a T-shirt that Starbucks gave employees during the summer of 1991. It said, in words printed over the left breast, "The quality of your summer can be measured by the size of the cup." The lawsuits say Starbucks made wearing the shirts optional after many female employees complained that the phrase was sexually offensive.

The lawsuits also name Phil Hummel, Fields' predecessor, and Howard Behar, Starbucks' senior vice president for retail operations. Among other complaints about Behar, the suits say that he "regularly grabbed female employees, hugged them and kissed them on the cheek."

Moix said those allegations are "slanderous, . . . irresponsible and have no merit."