Suit alleges "retaliation" by Starbucks

After working eight years at Starbucks' roasting plant in Kent, Mark Tutalo left in 2005, the last among a group of workers who had loudly supported a union there.

Now Tutalo is suing Starbucks, alleging it kept him on late shifts to retaliate for his union activity and despite a documented case of post-traumatic stress disorder that made it difficult for him to sleep.

On Thursday, Starbucks canceled mediation that had been scheduled to begin on the case today.

Tutalo's attorney, Sandra Ferguson, said Starbucks told her it did so partly because she brought the lawsuit to the media's attention and partly because she had continued the formal discovery process for the case.

Starbucks denies the lawsuit's allegations in a legal response filed in King County Superior Court.

In a statement Thursday, Starbucks said: "We were entering into mediation in good faith and are disappointed that Mr. Tutalo's counsel chose not to respect the spirit of that process. We believe we treated Mr. Tutalo fairly, correctly and in a manner consistent with the law. We are confident that will be confirmed by the court."

In the suit, Tutalo, 43, asks for back pay, potential future earnings, attorney fees and other damages.

A settlement would have kept the case from going to a jury trial, which is scheduled to begin in July.

Tutalo, who declined to be interviewed, lives in Covington and worked the graveyard shift — 10 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. — when he started at Starbucks in 1997.

He was promoted the next year from technician to maintenance mechanic.

After Tutalo started work, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of military service in the early 1990s. At one point, he had been trapped on a sinking submarine in a room with rising water, Ferguson said.

Beginning in 2002, Tutalo asked three times in writing that Starbucks move him to the day shift, and he provided medical documentation of his diagnosis. When Starbucks gave day-shift positions to others, it said they had seniority, court documents show.

In 2003, the company moved Tutalo to the swing shift — 2 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. — despite his objection that those hours kept him from attending group counseling sessions.

In late 2005, Tutalo found another job and left Starbucks because his health required it. According to the lawsuit, he "suffered sleep deprivation, fatigue, exhaustion, anxiety and loss of job performance over a period of several years."

Jeff Alexander is a former Kent roasting-plant employee who now works for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 286, which represented workers there. He said Tutalo was the union's "last standout supporter" at the plant.

Like most fast-food companies, Starbucks has few unionized workers. Several coffee shops in Canada are unionized, but the Operating Engineers withdrew its representation from the Kent plant in 2005 because so few supporters were left.

Alexander said he is among a handful of workers who left the plant in recent years with settlements from Starbucks. The settlement's terms do not allow them to discuss their situations, he said.

In 2005, Starbucks agreed to pay $165,000 to settle complaints the union filed with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the company of screening out job applicants with union sympathies and firing one employee for refusing to continue the screening.

The money went to eight job applicants and the one former employee. Starbucks did not admit wrongdoing.

Melissa Allison: 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com