Starbucks barista claims she was fired for not wanting to wear a 'Pride' shirt
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- Betsy Fresse was notified on August 22, 2019 that she had been fired because "her behavior was not in accordance with Starbucks core values."
- According to the separation notice, the woman allegedly told her co-workers that they needed Jesus when the shirt was delivered to them.
A Starbucks barista sued in New Jersey alleging that the coffee chain fired her for wanting to not wear a shirt of the "Gay Pride" (Pride) because of his religious beliefs as a Christian.
According to NBC , in June 2019, Betsy Fresse and her co-workers attended a meeting with the manager where she saw the Starbucks Pride t-shirts. After the room cleared, the woman asked if they would be required to use it during shifts, to which, according to Fresse, the manager said no.
In weeks after the meeting, the barista was contacted by the Starbucks ethics and compliance helpline regarding her request not to wear the pride shirt. The lawsuit explains that she told the ethics representative that she did not want to wear the shirt "because her religious beliefs prevented her from doing so," according to the US media.
From '99 to '19 #extrashotofpride pic.twitter.com/KW0KF9awLM
- Starbucks Pride (@StarbucksPride) June 1, 2019
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Betsy Fresse was notified on August 22, 2019 that she had been fired because “her behavior was not in accordance with Starbucks core values,” and according to the separation notice, the woman allegedly told her co-workers that They "needed Jesus" when the shirt was handed to them.
For her part, Ms. Fresse stated in her lawsuit that "all people need Jesus," she commented that she served all her clients with respect and that she has no enmity with people who adhere to the LGBTQ lifestyle.
A Starbucks spokesman told NBC that Ms. Fresse's allegations are baseless, as the business "does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation."
In court documents Betsy Fresse mentioned that her managers knew about her religious beliefs. The woman began working at a Hoboken branch in 2018 and continually requested Sundays and some nights off to attend church meetings.
However, Fresse switched to a Starbucks in Glen Ridge, NJ, where the incident occurred. In the United States, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of "race, color, religion, sex, and national origin."
