Peet’s Coffee & Tea ‘Tip Sharing’ Class Action Lawsuit

Peet’s Coffee & Tea ‘Tip Sharing’ Class Action Lawsuit

By Matt O’Donnell

Peet’s Coffee & Tea failed to pay all tips owed to baristas and committed unlawful and unfair business practices to increase its profits and gain an unfair business advantage at the expense of employees, a class action lawsuit claims in California Superior Court.

The lead Plaintiff in the Peet’s Coffee barista class action lawsuit alleges the coffee shop chain had a corporate policy that deprived baristas of substantial earnings through a “tip sharing” policy that allowed shift supervisors to share in the tips, even though they rarely work the cashier register or serve customers by making coffee, tea and other drinks. The majority of their time is spent managing employees.

“Peet’s regularly schedules baristas to work approximately 20-30 hours per week, but shift supervisors to work at least 40 hours per week. Because of the Peet’s tip sharing system, which is based on hours worked, shift supervisors who have very little customer interaction end up with the greater percentage of tips,” the class action lawsuit states.

As a result of this unfair business practice, Peet’s baristas have not received the total proceeds of tips they earned for providing customer service, including assisting customers, cashiering and making drinks. This constitutes a deceitful, unlawful, or unfair business practice under the Unfair Trade Practices Act, the class action lawsuit alleges.

The Peet’s Coffee & Tea tip sharing class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of all current and former baristas employed by Peet’s in California within the last four years. It is seeking damages, loss of earnings, restitution of all tips due to Class Members, and more.

The case is B.L. Anderson v. Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Inc., Case No. CGC-12-521927, Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Francisco.