Starbucks

Teavana
Washington
Food Beverage and Tobacco

Corprate Bias Ratings

Risk Level:

Rating - Danger
High Risk

Starbucks, a coffeehouse chain, fired an employee in 2020 for refusing to wear a Pride t-shirt because it went against her religious beliefs. The company vets vendors according to LGBTQ policies and does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees. Starbucks covers the cost of "medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children. The company discriminates against religious nonprofits and uses the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to vet charities. Starbucks is a corporate partner of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and funds Planned Parenthood. The company provides abortion travel benefits for its employees and is a Ceres Network Member, committed to carbon neutrality by 2040. Starbucks supports the Equality Act and opposed anti-LGBTQ legislation. The company mandated racial bias training for all its employees and its CEO is a member of the Business Roundtable. For these reasons, Starbucks receives a High Risk rating.

Criteria
Risk Level
Rationale
Corporate Weaponization
Criteria

Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level
Rationale

Starbucks fired an employee in 2020 for refusing to wear a Pride t-shirt because it went against her religious beliefs (1). The company received a score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index. Among other requirements, this means Starbucks has a written policy pledging to vet vendors for LGBTQ policies (2)(3).

Criteria

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level
Rationale

Starbucks will not match employees’ donations to “religious organizations benefiting only those with like beliefs” (1). Starbucks also uses the SPLC Hate List to determine eligible organizations for its gift-matching program (2).

Criteria

Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.

Risk Level
Rationale

Starbucks does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria

Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Starbucks reversed its company policy allowing employees to wear Black Lives Matter t-shirts and pins on their uniforms after initially not allowing employees to do so (1). The company signed an open letter in support of the Equality Act and supported revisions to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the wake of state election security laws (2)(3). In 2015, the company encouraged its 12,000 baristas to strike up conversations with customers about racism (4)(5). The company’s former CEO denounced the 2015 NC bathroom bill requiring citizens to use the restroom of their biological gender and pushed for bathrooms to correspond with gender identity (6)(7)(8). In 2018, Starbucks closed over 8,000 locations to give over 175,000 employees implicit bias training regarding race and gender (9). Starbucks CEO is a member of the Business Roundtable, but has not supported ideological initiatives (10). The company is a Ceres Network Member, committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2040 (11)(12).

Criteria

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Starbucks sponsors multiple Planned Parenthood facilities and provides travel benefits for abortion as well as “gender affirming” surgeries for employees (1)(2)(3). The company has a perfect score on the HRC’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index. This score indicates the company covers the cost of “medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children (4)(5). Starbucks is a bronze partner of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and has pledged over $1 million to BLM-adjacent organizations (6)(7)(8).

Criteria

Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level
Rationale

Starbucks does not operate a PAC at this time and has not lobbied for ideological purposes (1)(2).

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
December 7, 2023

Company reports are intended for educational use only. Full Disclaimer

Voting History

Date
ESG Category
Proponent
Summary of ResolutionMgmt RecTotal Vote % in Favor
3/23/23GovernanceTrilliumAssessment of Worker Rights CommitmentsFor51.40%
3/23/23GovernanceSOC Investment Group and Leah MartinCreate a CEO Succession Planning Policy AmendmentAgainst20.90%
3/23/23EnvironmentalPETACreate a Report on Plant-Based Milk PricingAgainst5.30%
3/23/23SocialNational Legal and Policy Center Annual Reports on Company Operations in ChinaAgainst4.40%
3/23/23EnvironmentalNational Center for Public Policy ResearchCreation of Board Committee on Corporate SustainabilityAgainst2.70%
3/16/22SocialNew York State Common Retirement FundReport on Prevention of Workplace Harassment & DiscriminationAgainst32.05%
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