A former barista sued Starbucks on Thursday, accusing the company of cheating thousands of baristas in New York State by giving a share of their tips to shift supervisors. In papers filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, lawyers for the barista, Jeana Barenboim, asserted that Starbucks had violated a state law that bars employers or agents of an employer from receiving part of workers? tips. The lawsuit was inspired by a ruling last month in which a state judge in San Diego awarded $105 million to baristas throughout California, after finding that Starbucks had improperly allowed shift supervisors to share tips.
See "Starbucks Sued in New York Over Tip Issue", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, April 3, 2008