Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody wrote a complaint on Wednesday regarding accusations of racial discrimination at Starbucks.
Specifically, the complaint — written as a letter to the Florida Commission on Human Relations — discusses apparent “racial quotas” in Starbucks’ hiring practices.
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In the letter, Moody points to a portion of Starbucks’ website, where the company announced a commitment to the following:
“Setting and tracking annual inclusion and diversity goals of achieving BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) representation of at least 30 percent at all corporate levels and at least 40 percent of all retail and manufacturing roles by 2025″
Starbucks, "Starbucks Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Timeline"
Moody argues that these policies appear to be racial quotas — setting “specific race-based employment targets” — which could violate the law.
“The Florida Civil Rights Act prohibits, among other things, limiting, segregating, or classifying employees or applicants for employment based on race in any manner that would deprive the person of employment opportunities...” Moody writes. “Courts have also recognized that racial quotas violate federal civil rights laws.”
As a result, Moody said that the FCHR should investigate Starbucks’ hiring practices — as well as its “anti-bias” training, which she claims is aimed at persuading white employees that they are “the problem” — to determine whether the company has violated state laws.
The full complaint has been added to this story and can be read in the media viewer below.
Starbucks Letter Final for Transmission by Anthony Talcott on Scribd
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