🗞️ Labor Judge Finds Starbucks Violated Federal Law During Washington Union Drive
An NLRB judge ruled that Starbucks illegally questioned and pressured a Washington barista during a 2023 union campaign, ordering the company to halt the conduct and post a notice, while dismissing separate claims involving a manager's viral Snapchat video and later workplace discipline.
A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge has ruled that Starbucks Corporation broke federal labor law during a union organizing campaign at two of its stores in Renton, Washington, in late 2023 and early 2024. In a decision issued July 24, 2026, Judge John T. Giannopoulos found that a district manager unlawfully questioned shift supervisor Nicole D'Ettore about union activity and solicited her workplace grievances during a private meeting, and that a store manager, Kevin Maybee, later made unlawful threats suggesting employees could lose benefits, face difficulty transferring shifts to other stores, and receive less management support if they voted to unionize. The judge also found that Starbucks improperly enforced its own dress code when a manager told D'Ettore she could not wear a union pin, even though the pin conformed to the company's longstanding policy permitting one reasonably sized union button.
The judge dismissed several other allegations brought by the National Labor Relations Board General Counsel, including a claim that a separate store manager's expletive filled Snapchat video mocking picketing workers amounted to unlawful ridicule. Because the video did not identify any employee by name or contain an explicit threat, the judge concluded it fell short of a legal violation. He likewise dismissed a claim that Starbucks harassed D'Ettore over the pace of her work, including a manager's suggestion that she pursue a medical accommodation for memory issues, finding that the allegation had not been properly raised in the complaint or fully argued at the hearing.
The case is one piece of a much larger legal fight between Starbucks and Workers United, the union affiliated with the Service Employees International Union that has organized hundreds of Starbucks stores nationwide since its campaign began in Buffalo in 2021, even as the two sides have yet to reach a first contract. Starbucks retains the right to appeal the ruling to the full National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C.
Key Points
- Judge Giannopoulos found Starbucks violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act through unlawful interrogation, grievance solicitation, discriminatory dress code enforcement, and threats concerning benefits, shift transfers, and management support.
- The union lost both the Petrovitsky Road and Grady Way store elections in early 2024, despite the organizing activity that gave rise to the unfair labor practice charges.
- A store manager's off duty Snapchat video mocking union protesters was found offensive but not unlawful, since it named no individual employee and contained no explicit threats.
- A harassment allegation involving a manager's remarks about a barista's memory and a suggested medical accommodation was dismissed on procedural and evidentiary grounds.
- Starbucks was ordered to cease the unlawful conduct and post an employee notice at the Petrovitsky Road store for 60 consecutive days.
- The ruling becomes final if neither party files exceptions with the NLRB within the required appeal window.
Primary Source Author: Administrative Law Judge John T. Giannopoulos, NLRB Division of Judges, San Francisco Branch Office
Primary Source: Starbucks Corporation and Workers United Labor Union International, Cases 19-CA-332361, 19-CA-332362, 19-CA-332363, 19-CA-332792, JD(SF)-13-26 (July 24, 2026)
Primary Source Link: www.nlrb.gov/case/19-CA-332361
