Starbucks settles Houston overtime lawsuit

Starbucks settles Houston overtime lawsuit
By CRAIG HARRIS

SEATTLE - Nearly three years after a Starbucks assistant manager in
Houston alleged that he was forced to work off the clock, the
Seattle-based coffee giant has settled an overtime wage case with the
former employee and roughly 350 other workers.

The settlement comes as Starbucks is fighting at least two other major
lawsuits in which employees allege they were not legally compensated.

Starbucks and James Falcon earlier this month agreed to end the Houston
case just before it was headed to trial in U.S. District Court. Terms
of the settlement, which needs the court's approval, were not
disclosed. The next hearing is March 4.

"This resolution will hopefully provide fair compensation to the
participants," Martin Shellist, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said
Friday.

Shellist said the case covered 356 assistant managers from around the
country who had joined the suit and worked at Starbucks after March 11,
2002. Those who had not previously joined the suit are not eligible to
receive any settlement money.

Starbucks and its attorney did not return calls, and Falcon could not
be reached.

The legal battles coincide with a massive reorganization at Starbucks,
where Chairman Howard Schultz has recently returned to run the daily
operations. Starbucks has said it would close 100 underperforming
stores as it works to resuscitate a flagging stock price.

The Houston case was filed in March 2005, when Falcon alleged he worked
beyond 40 hours a week but was not paid for logging the additional
hours.

Falcon, in the suit, said he was entitled to overtime pay -
time-and-one-half for each hour worked beyond 40 hours - because
Starbucks in late 2002 reclassified its assistant store managers and
paid them on an hourly basis instead of a salary.

He claimed that while he did perform some managerial duties, the
majority of his time was spent doing the work of baristas, hourly
employees who wait on customers, make drinks or clean the store.

The case was dismissed Feb. 11, after the parties had negotiated a
settlement.


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