Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a sweeping civil rights lawsuit against Starbucks Coffee Company on Wednesday, accusing the coffee giant of maintaining illegal “hiring quotas” and engaging in “reverse discrimination” against white, Asian, and multiracial employees.
The complaint, filed in the Circuit Court for Highlands County, alleges that Starbucks has violated the Florida Civil Rights Act by implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies that systematically disfavor non-minority staff. The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and civil penalties that the Attorney General’s office estimates could reach the “tens of millions.”
According to the filing, the state claims Starbucks has moved beyond simple diversity goals and crossed into unlawful conduct. The complaint alleges the company established specific racial quotas for hiring, tied executive bonuses to the retention of “favored races,” and created mentorship programs that explicitly excluded white employees.
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“All racial discrimination, even for supposedly benign purposes, is invidious and unlawful,” the complaint states, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
State prosecutors argue that for the past five years, Starbucks has operated under policies that prioritize race over merit. The lawsuit highlights a 2020 public report where the company announced “diverse representation goals” aiming for 40% people of color in retail jobs and 30% in corporate roles by 2025. The Attorney General argues these are not aspirations, but hard quotas enforced by financial incentives.
One of the central accusations involves executive compensation. The state alleges that until March 2024, Starbucks conditioned executive bonuses on meeting specific diversity targets. The filing claims executives were evaluated on their “BIPOC retention rate,” and could lose a portion of their bonus if they failed to retain enough employees from specific racial groups.
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The lawsuit also targets the company’s internal networking. It cites a 2024 proxy statement describing mentorship programs open only to “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color,” which the state argues segregates the workforce and denies opportunities to other employees based solely on their skin color.
“A desire to promote ‘diversity’ does not give Defendant a free pass to discriminate against persons of certain disfavored races,” the complaint reads.
Jurisdiction for the case was established in Highlands County, where Starbucks operates at least one of its more than 900 Florida locations.
The sheer number of stores is significant to the state’s request for damages. Under the Florida Civil Rights Act, the Attorney General is seeking civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation. Given the company’s massive footprint and the number of employees in the state, the filing suggests the potential financial liability is substantial.
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The lawsuit requests a permanent injunction to stop Starbucks from using race as a factor in hiring, pay, or promotion decisions.
A Starbucks spokesperson responded to the filing on Wednesday, flatly denying the claims.
“We disagree. We are deeply committed to creating opportunity for every single one of our partners (employees),” the spokesperson said. “Our programs and benefits are open to everyone and lawful. Our hiring practices are inclusive, fair and competitive, and designed to ensure the strongest candidate for every job, every time.”
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