Answering two of the questions certified to it by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, New York’s high court has determined that Starbucks Corp. can, under the state’s Labor Law, distinguish among its employees for purposes of sharing the tips customers leave in a jar on the counter. Barenboim v. Starbucks Corp., Winans v. Starbucks Corp., No. 122 (N.Y., decided June 26, 2013). Starbucks’ policy requires the distribution of pooled tips to baristas and shift supervisors. Both classes of employees spend most of their time performing customer-oriented services, such as taking orders, making and serving beverages and food, operating the cash register, cleaning tables, and stocking products. Both also work part-time and are paid hourly. Shift supervisors have minor supervisory responsibilities. Starbucks does not allow assistant store managers or store managers to receive any of the pooled tips. Both classes work full-time and are eligible for bonuses and benefits, such as…
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A federal court in California has preliminarily approved a $3 million settlement of claims by state Starbucks Corp. employees that the company denied them off-duty breaks because its busy stores were understaffed and the company required employees to take their breaks on-duty if only two employees were present. York v. Starbucks Corp., No. 08-7919 (C.D. Cal., order entered June 10, 2013). According to a news source, the court expressed some reservations about the incentive awards to the named plaintiffs, noting that the Ninth Circuit “seems to be taking an evermore-aggressive look at incentive awards and expecting the trial court to look closely at those things.” Additional information about the settlement appears in Issue 484 of this Update. See Law360, June 10, 2013.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued “a call for acrylamide occurrence data in food and beverages intended for human consumption collected outside official controls.” Part of the agency’s ongoing assessment of acrylamide levels in food and beverages, the latest request for data focuses on the following product categories: (i) french fries sold as ready to eat; (ii) potato crisps; (iii) pre-cooked french fries and potato products for homecooking; (iv) soft bread; (v) breakfast cereals; (vi) biscuits, crackers, crisp bread, and similar products; (vii) coffee and coffee substitutes; (viii) baby foods, “other than processed cereal based foods”; (ix) “processed cereal-based foods for infants and young children”; and (x) other products, including muesli and porridge, pastry and cakes, and savory snacks. EFSA has specified that “the analytical method used for the quantitative determination of acrylamide… should achieve a LOQ [level of quantification] of 30 µm/kg for bread and foods for…
The First Circuit Court of Appeals has determined, as a matter of first impression, that Starbucks Corp. violated a Massachusetts law prohibiting restaurant tips to be shared with employees who have managerial responsibilities, because the “upscale coffee house” chain allowed tips collected in tip jars by the cash registers of its Massachusetts shops to be shared by shift supervisors and baristas. Matamoros v. Starbucks Corp., Nos. 12-1189, -1277 (1st Cir., decided November 9, 2012). Massachusetts apparently amended a tip-sharing law in 2004. Under the earlier version, the courts applied a “primary duty” test to decide whether an employee could participate in a tips pool—if the primary duty was to serve customers, he could participate; if the primary duty was to manage, she was ineligible. After amendment, the legislature clearly defined a “wait staff employee” as someone, among other matters, “who has no managerial responsibility.” The court agreed with the plaintiffs…
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. investors have reportedly filed a consolidated securities action against the company, claiming that they were misled about demand for Keurig and K-Cup products. La. Mun. Police Emp. Ret. Sys. v. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., No. 11-00289 (D. Vt., filed October 29, 2012). The Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System sued the company for U.S. securities law violations in November 2011 when Green Mountain’s shares fell 34 percent in a single day, losing $3.1 billion in market value, after quarterly sales fell short of analysts’ expectations. A group of pension funds, seeking to represent all company investors, allege that “[u]nbeknownst to investors, and contrary to defendants’ statements that they were barely able to ship orders as they came in, Green Mountain Coffee Roaster’s warehouses were overflowing with unused and expiring coffee products that were not being sold to consumers.” The company is facing increasing competition as…
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has certified to the New York Court of Appeals questions arising under state employment law in a dispute over the distribution of tips in Starbucks stores. Barenboim v. Starbucks Corp., No. 10-4912; Winans v. Starbucks Corp., No. 11-3199 (2d Cir., questions certified October 23, 2012). A federal district court determined that Starbucks properly distributed pooled tips to shift supervisors and that Starbucks was not required to include assistant store managers in its tip pools. The appellants in the consolidated appeals are a putative class of baristas who allege that shift supervisors are “agents” under New York Labor Law § 196-d and ineligible to share tips, and a putative class of assistant store managers who claim they are entitled to share in the tip pools because they perform the same tasks as baristas and have only limited management authority. The plaintiffs in both cases sought review…
A recent study has reportedly observed an association between heavier coffee consumption and increased risk of exfoliation glaucoma or exfoliation glaucoma suspect (EG/EGS). Louis Pasquale, et al., “The Relationship between Caffeine and Coffee Consumption and Exfoliation Glaucoma or Glaucoma Suspect: A Prospective Study in Two Cohorts,” Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, September 2012. Researchers with the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, used eye examination data and follow-up questionnaires from 78,977 women and 41,202 men enrolled in health studies to determine that those who reported drinking three or more cups of caffeinated coffee each day were more likely to develop EG/EGS than those who abstained. The study also found that this risk increased for women with a family history of glaucoma, but did not identify a similar association between EG/EGS and other caffeinated products, such as soda or tea, or decaffeinated coffee. “Because this…
Researchers using data for nearly 500,000 men and women participating in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study have purportedly found that coffee consumption is “inversely associated with colon cancer, particularly proximal tumors.” Rashmi Sinha, “Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee and tea intakes and risks of colorectal cancer in a large prospective study,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 13, 2012. Ninety percent of the cohort drank coffee, and 16 percent consumed more than four cups per day. “Compared with nondrinkers, heavy coffee drinkers (≥6 cups/d) were more likely to be men, current smokers, and physically inactive and consumed more red meat and alcohol but less fruit and vegetables.” Heavy coffee drinkers also apparently consumed predominantly caffeinated coffee. According to the researchers, “there was an inverse association between individuals who drank 4-5 cups coffee/d compared with nondrinkers with colon cancer (HR: 0.85; 95%, CI: 0.75, 0.96), and the association was even stronger…
According to news sources, the Dusseldorf Regional Court has refused a request for preliminary injunction filed by Nestlé seeking to stop competitors from selling capsules that fit its Nespresso™ coffee makers in Germany. The court reportedly ruled that Nestlé’s patent for the machine does not extend to capsules sold at a lower price by two other Swiss firms. Defendants Ethical Coffee and Betron market their products in a number of European countries as “usable for Nespresso machines.” The rival capsules are about a third less expensive than the Nestlé capsules. The company, which has aggressively defended its Nespresso™ business—worth $3.6 billion worldwide—can apparently either ask the court for a full civil-trial process or appeal the ruling. See The New York Times, Associated Press and Bloomberg, August 16, 2012.
A study conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and AARP has reportedly found that older adults who drank either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee “had a lower risk of death overall than others who did not drink coffee,” according to a May 16, 2012, NIH press release. Neal Freedman, et al., “Association of Coffee Drinking with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality,” New England Journal of Medicine, May 2012. After analyzing data from 400,000 men and women ages 50 to 71 who participated in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, researchers evidently concluded that coffee drinkers “were less likely to die from heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, and infections, although the association was not seen for cancer.” In particular, the study’s authors noted that the “association between coffee and reduction in risk of death increased with the amount of coffee consumed,” as subjects who reported consuming three or…
