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Missouri has sued Starbucks for discrimination because its workforce has “become more female and less white”.
Filed on Tuesday by the state’s Republican attorney general, the lawsuit accuses the coffee chain of engaging in “systemic racial, sexual, and sexual orientation discrimination” through its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, including hiring quotas, advancement opportunities and board membership.
The lawsuit alleges that as of 23 August 2020 the company’s US employee breakdown was 69% women, and that by 24 September 2024 the figure was 70.9% women.
It also says that in 2020 the firm’s US workforce was “47% Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (Bipoc)”, compared with 28 September 2024 figures showing “8.1% black, 31.7% Hispanic, 5.6% Asian, 47.8% white, 0.6% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.5% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander” – adding up to 46.5% non-white, a slight drop from 2020.
Despite the figures appearing to show no major changes, the lawsuit emphasizes that “since 2020, Starbuck’s workface [sic] has become more female and less white”.
It claims the company “singles out preferred groups for additional training and employment benefits”, causing customers to “pay higher prices and wait longer for goods and services” because hiring practices based on “non-merit considerations will skew the hiring pool towards people who are less qualified to perform their work”.
It did not cite any evidence that diversity policies translate to higher prices.
“We disagree with the attorney general and these allegations are inaccurate,” a Starbucks spokesperson said in a statement.
“We are deeply committed to creating opportunity for every single one of our partners (employees). Our programs and benefits are open to everyone and lawful.”
Starbucks has a long history of inclusivity and diversity initiatives. The company began several programs in 2018 after the high-profile arrest of two Black men at a store in Philadelphia, including closing 8,000 US stores for a day for employees to undergo racial-bias training.
The federal lawsuit comes at a time when the Trump administration is pressuring governmental agencies to slash their DEI initiatives, and corporations across the country are following Trump’s example.
The Starbucks spokesperson confirmed that there have been no changes to the company’s programming or benefits.
“Our hiring practices are inclusive fair and competitive and designed to ensure the strongest candidate for every job every time,” it said.
