It also says that in 2020 the firm’s US workforce was “47% Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (Bipoc)”, compared to 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.
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”.
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.
Republican attorney general files suit claiming – without evidence – coffee chain’s hiring policies cause higher prices.
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.
