Originally published June 13, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified June 13, 2007 at 2:16 PM
Starbucks settles disability discrimination suit for $85,000
Starbucks Corp. has agreed to pay $85,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed in 2006 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission...
Starbucks Corp. has agreed to pay $85,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed in 2006 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after the company fired a Seattle barista with bipolar disorder.
The EEOC said today that Starbucks gave Christine Drake extra training and support while she worked as a barista in its Queen Anne-neighborhood coffee shop for more than two years, starting in 2001. But in her third year, new management at the coffee shop discontinued the extra support and then fired her, which the EEOC said violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Starbucks did not immediately return calls for comment.
The EEOC said Starbucks agreed to pay Drake $75,000 and give $10,000 to the Disability Rights Legal Center, which provides lawyers for low-income disabled people facing discrimination. Starbucks will also train managers about illegal discrimination and will give the EEOC information about disability discrimination complaints inside the company for the next year, the commission said.
Shares of Starbucks dropped 17 cents to $27.57 in midday trading.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
UPDATE - 02:55 PM
Microsoft warns of serious computer security hole
Service sector shrinks less than expected in June
Tech execs double as scourges and sages at Allen & Co.'s media summit
UPDATE - 03:08 PM
Stocks end mixed; Oil slide hits energy shares

2009 fireworks time lapse
With strict parking rules enforced at this year's July 4th celebration on Wallingford Ave North, less cars and more spectators filled the streets.
Entertainment | Top Video | World | Offbeat Video | Sci-Tech
shopping

events for Monday, Jul. 6th
- Posh on Main Semiannual Sale
- REI Summer Sale and Clearance
- Seattle Premium Outlets July 4th Summ...
- Pink Ginger First Anniversary Sale
editors' picks
More shopping guides- Seattle may allow homeowners to build backyard cottages
- Landmark Smith Tower mostly vacant
- Police: McNair's girlfriend bought gun Thursday
- Property taxes: Appeals shoot up in King, Snohomish Counties
- Mariners Blog | What the Seattle Mariners learned on their road trip
- Palin links resignation to 'higher calling' and blasts media in Facebook posting
- Former NFL MVP McNair killed
- Hard times for tourist towns means good deals for travelers
- Brier Dudley | Brier Dudley | Learning hard lessons from Boeing giveaways
- New laws help tenants evicted due to foreclosure
- Palin links resignation to 'higher calling' and blasts media in Facebook posting
214 - Tukwila residents rally against light-rail noise
142 - What Mariners learned on this road trip
130 - Seattle may allow homeowners to build backyard cottages
90 - FBI denounces rumors: Palin not investigated
85 - New laws help tenants evicted due to foreclosure
63 - Bicyclist fatally hit by SUV outside Bremerton
60 - Bellevue ordinance would fine retailers for not collecting runaway shopping carts
59 - 2 wounded in Central District drive-by shooting
59 - Mariners did their part, now they need help
51
- Property taxes: Appeals shoot up in King, Snohomish Counties
- Seattle may allow homeowners to build backyard cottages
- Researchers stunned by inmates' success raising endangered frogs
- Hard times for tourist towns means good deals for travelers
- Landmark Smith Tower mostly vacant
- 250 gather in field near Twisp for fairy congress
- New laws help tenants evicted due to foreclosure
- Plasma and LCD beware; OLED screens ready to go mainstream
- Seattle safety project: A snake shelter on Beacon Hill
- Toyota's Toyoda scolds execs for emulating U.S. car companies' mistakes
