No It Isn’t, Yes It Is

The Starbucks case has been ordered back to the lower court to hear the discrimination case.

Minnesota Court of Appeals rules a transgender man's discrimination lawsuit against Starbucks can proceed
Lawsuit claims the coffee shop's employees in Edina and Eden Prairie refused to serve him.
Star Tribune
By David Chanen
December 26, 2017

The Minnesota Court of Appeals reinstated a transgender man’s discrimination lawsuit Tuesday alleging that employees at Starbucks coffee shops in Eden Prairie and Edina refused to serve him.

Earlier this year, Hennepin County District Court threw out the complaint because the plaintiff, Paul Bray, 43, didn’t prove the discrimination was based on his transgender status. The district court also ruled that Bray’s right to sue over allegations from July 2013 had expired under the one-year statute of limitations established by the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA).

A three-judge panel of the appeals court found that the court record reasonably supports a conclusion that Starbucks treated Bray more harshly than other customers. Judge Michelle Larkin wrote that the panel was reversing the lower court’s ruling “because there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether Starbucks discriminated against Bray because he was transgender.
[…]
Bray complained to a shift manager, who told him that Peka was uncomfortable interacting with Bray because he was not “a real man,” the court ruling said. When asked for clarification, the manager said he meant it was because he was transgender. In the following weeks, Bray continued to get coffee at the Eden Prairie Starbucks, but Peka didn’t serve him. He did receive adequate service from other employees.

Another incident occurred in October. Bray went to the shop and saw Peka point her finger at him and say, “That’s him.” Afterward, another employee appeared disgusted and hesitated when handing Bray his drink, the ruling said. Bray again complained to management yet received no response. He stopped going to the Eden Prairie shop.

He then started to go to another Starbucks but then an employee at from the other Starbucks was transferred to new Starbucks and recognized him, the employee then told the other employees about him.

This case seems to be straight forward case… they found out he was trans and they stopped serving him, but there is a twist that may or may not be a factor, he dated Sophia Peka.

The other thing not in his favor is that he waited too long to file suit because of that he can’t suit for discrimination before the cutoff date.

It is very important to remember that most states limit the time you can file for discrimination, here in Connecticut it is 180 days from the time of the discrimination incident!