Topline
With allegations of unfair labor practices a major point of contention in the ongoing “Red Cup Rebellion” strike, Starbucks has agreed to pay $35.5 million to more than 15,000 New York City workers, plus $3.4 million in civil penalties, for violating New York City’s Fair Workweek Law, according to New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP).
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders join striking Starbucks workers on a picket line outside a Starbucks store on 4th Avenue near 11th Street in Brooklyn, New York City, on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. (Gardiner Anderson/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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Key Facts
DCWP ruled that Starbucks had committed over 500,000 violations of its Fair Workweek Law across 300 city locations, dating back to 2021.
Finding that workers were routinely denied stable and predictable schedules and the ability to pick up extra shifts, which kept them involuntarily as part-time employees, most baristas will receive $50 for each week worked from July 2021 through July 2024.
In addition, the settlement allows workers who may have experienced a violation after that date to receive compensation upon filing a complaint with the department, and it grants city workers laid off due to store closings the right to be reinstated at other open locations.
The settlement—the largest worker protection settlement in New York City history— was announced hours before Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders joined the picket line at a Starbucks store in Brooklyn.
Key Background
The Fair Workweek Law requires NYC fast food employers to give workers regular schedules 14 days in advance, premium pay for schedule changes, the opportunity to decline working additional time and the opportunity to work newly available shifts before hiring new workers. Additionally, employers can’t schedule a “clopening” shift—a closing shift one night, followed by an opening shift the next morning—unless the worker consents in writing and receives a $100 premium to work the shift. And fast food employers cannot fire or reduce a worker’s hours by more than 15% without just cause and must reinstate laid-off workers at other locations.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2025/12/02/starbucks-to-pay-389-million-to-settle-violations-of-new-york-city-labor-law/
