I Wanna Work for Starbucks!!
Woman sues Starbucks, alleging bias
A Portland woman who applied multiple times starting at age 53 still wants a job.
A Portland woman is suing Starbucks, claiming the Seattle-based coffee giant denied her a job because of her age.
It started two years ago, when then 53-year-old Deborah Boyajian walked into the Starbucks store on Congress Street in Portland, looking for a part-time job as a barista.
The manager said she would check her references, but never did.
Boyajian says that over the next five months, while she submitted multiple applications to work for Starbucks, the company hired 19 other applicants at three stores in Portland and one in South Portland. All but one of the people hired were younger than 30 years old.
The civil lawsuit filed in Cumberland County Superior Court seeks punitive damages against Starbucks. Boyajian also wants the job she feels she deserved two years ago. Her attorney is Anne Carney of the Portland firm Norman, Hanson & DeTroy.
Boyajian, who lives in Portland, is married to an engineer and has a 14-year-old son. According to the lawsuit, she has more than 20 years' experience working in cafes, bakeries and food- service jobs, beginning when she was a teenager and worked at Coffee Connection in Boston.
After her unsuccessful attempts to get a job as a barista with Starbucks, Boyajian filed a complaint in the summer of 2006 with the Maine Human Rights Commission, a state agency that investigates discrimination cases. She provided a detailed outline of her job search and frustration with being turned down.
"There cannot be any reason but age, for me to not have been hired," Boyajian wrote.
The commission investigator, Michele Dion, took statements and other information from Boyajian and an attorney for Starbucks. Dion found evidence to support a lawsuit, including the fact that no one responded to Boyajian's application for an advertised barista position at the Starbucks store in South Portland.
Dion questioned why the manager at the Congress Street location had never checked Boyajian's references. Hiring information provided by Starbucks also raised red flags for Dion.
"There appears to be a very clear pattern of hiring people who are either in their late teens or twenties, particularly in the Starbucks Congress Street," Dion wrote in her report. In September, the commission agreed with the report, and notified Boyajian that she had reasonable grounds to pursue the lawsuit.
Sherri Jefferson, a Washington state lawyer representing Starbucks, has disputed the claims made by Boyajian.
Jefferson told Dion that Starbucks embraces diversity as part of its core mission, and employs several people over the age of 40 at its stores in Greater Portland.
Boyajian was not hired, Jefferson indicated in Dion's report, because of her limited availability, and because she harassed employees at the Congress Street store. Jefferson said Boyajian repeatedly came into the store to check the status of her application, and was rude and belligerent. Jefferson also said that Boyajian was not hired after a subsequent job fair because she had made an error on an application, causing it to be misfiled.
State and federal laws prohibit employers from discriminating against job applicants on the basis of several factors, including race, religion, sex and age.
- Just the fact that she WANTS to work at Starbuck's likely disqualifies her immediately...
LINK: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=149930&ac=PHnws
A Portland woman who applied multiple times starting at age 53 still wants a job.
A Portland woman is suing Starbucks, claiming the Seattle-based coffee giant denied her a job because of her age.
It started two years ago, when then 53-year-old Deborah Boyajian walked into the Starbucks store on Congress Street in Portland, looking for a part-time job as a barista.
The manager said she would check her references, but never did.
Boyajian says that over the next five months, while she submitted multiple applications to work for Starbucks, the company hired 19 other applicants at three stores in Portland and one in South Portland. All but one of the people hired were younger than 30 years old.
The civil lawsuit filed in Cumberland County Superior Court seeks punitive damages against Starbucks. Boyajian also wants the job she feels she deserved two years ago. Her attorney is Anne Carney of the Portland firm Norman, Hanson & DeTroy.
Boyajian, who lives in Portland, is married to an engineer and has a 14-year-old son. According to the lawsuit, she has more than 20 years' experience working in cafes, bakeries and food- service jobs, beginning when she was a teenager and worked at Coffee Connection in Boston.
After her unsuccessful attempts to get a job as a barista with Starbucks, Boyajian filed a complaint in the summer of 2006 with the Maine Human Rights Commission, a state agency that investigates discrimination cases. She provided a detailed outline of her job search and frustration with being turned down.
"There cannot be any reason but age, for me to not have been hired," Boyajian wrote.
The commission investigator, Michele Dion, took statements and other information from Boyajian and an attorney for Starbucks. Dion found evidence to support a lawsuit, including the fact that no one responded to Boyajian's application for an advertised barista position at the Starbucks store in South Portland.
Dion questioned why the manager at the Congress Street location had never checked Boyajian's references. Hiring information provided by Starbucks also raised red flags for Dion.
"There appears to be a very clear pattern of hiring people who are either in their late teens or twenties, particularly in the Starbucks Congress Street," Dion wrote in her report. In September, the commission agreed with the report, and notified Boyajian that she had reasonable grounds to pursue the lawsuit.
Sherri Jefferson, a Washington state lawyer representing Starbucks, has disputed the claims made by Boyajian.
Jefferson told Dion that Starbucks embraces diversity as part of its core mission, and employs several people over the age of 40 at its stores in Greater Portland.
Boyajian was not hired, Jefferson indicated in Dion's report, because of her limited availability, and because she harassed employees at the Congress Street store. Jefferson said Boyajian repeatedly came into the store to check the status of her application, and was rude and belligerent. Jefferson also said that Boyajian was not hired after a subsequent job fair because she had made an error on an application, causing it to be misfiled.
State and federal laws prohibit employers from discriminating against job applicants on the basis of several factors, including race, religion, sex and age.
- Just the fact that she WANTS to work at Starbuck's likely disqualifies her immediately...
LINK: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=149930&ac=PHnws
0
-
quote:"There cannot be any reason but age, for me to not have been hired," Boyajian wrote.
Maybe the old bag is ugly as sin! [:0][:0]
rider0 -
quote:Originally posted by rider
quote:"There cannot be any reason but age, for me to not have been hired," Boyajian wrote.
Maybe the old bag is ugly as sin! [:0][:0]
rider
She sounds a tad tightly wrapped to me.
Wasn't Burger King hiring?0 -
Sounds to me like someone has a sense of entitlement a mile long and wide.[xx(]
Well, that and really low aspirations...0 -
She'll be messing with Hooter's next crying discrimination when they won't hire her to be a Hooter's Girl. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by sarge_3ad
She'll be messing with Hooter's next crying discrimination when they won't hire her to be a Hooter's Girl.
+10 -
quote:Originally posted by mateomasfeo
- Just the fact that she WANTS to work at Starbuck's likely disqualifies her immediately...
Actually Starbucks has full benefits for it's employees. The finacial person who appeared on Oprah had one woman get a job at Starbucks for the benefit package.0 -
She's married to an engineer, why does she even need to work? 0 -
you do not want to work for starbucksstarbucks does tend to hire younger people my wife worked there for a number of years and had her own store .
[:(]its not as great as they want you to think it is working there[:(]0 -
She isn't the lady driving the car in the commercial trying to run over the Burger Chef King ? 0 -
i've had a few people that behaved in a similar manner wanting employment, a waitress, and a bouncer, she was very annoying from the start, he was just a total dork, and wouldn't have made it through a weekend, if a ahole wouldn't have kicked his azz the other bouncers would have
too bad she didn't pay attention to this gal
0 -
Maybe dano can get her a job .
He likes his workers slightly older .0 -
quote:Originally posted by 1911a1fan
i've had a few people that behaved in a similar manner wanting employment, a waitress, and a bouncer, she was very annoying from the start, he was just a total dork, and wouldn't have made it through a weekend, if a ahole wouldn't have kicked his azz the other bouncers would have
too bad she didn't pay attention to this gal
Holy Hooters Batman!![:0] Are they live or Memorex?[;)]0 -
quote:Originally posted by SXSMAN
Maybe dano can get her a job .
He likes his workers slightly older .
Oh man is THAT funny!!0 -
What the hay?
Two years ago, Chippendale's denied me a part time job. While I even filed multiple applications, the company hired 19 other applicants; all but one were younger than thirty years old.
I bet this was only because of my age, yet you don't see me filing no civil suits!!!
[xx(]0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
14 comments