A former Starbucks employee has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Starbucks for firing him after he fought off robbers who had pistol-whipped him.
The employee, Michael Harris, reportedly stopped a robbery at the St. Louis location where he worked on December 17.
Krupp Law Firm LLC, the firm representing Harris, says that two gunmen had entered the cafe and began demanding money from customers.
“I thought I was gonna die that day. … They walked in, announced that it was a robbery,” Harris told local station KSDK.
Harris initially complied with the Starbucks handbook policies, which instruct employees not to interfere with robberies — until he could no longer do so, according to the firm.
“Harris complied with the robbers’ demands until it was no longer an option for himself and others,” said Ryan Krupp, the former employee’s lawyer.
The two robbers then demanded cash from the register, which Harris attempted to comply with. Unfortunately, he could not open it because it had to be done by a manager.
The robbers grew frustrated that it was taking so long and pistol-whipped him.
After hitting him with the gun, another employee noticed that it had broken — leading them to believe the guns were fake.
“That’s when we noticed and started to fight back,” Harris told the station.
Fox Business reports:
After a fight ensued, one of the men ran off and Harris and his co-worker, Devin Jones-Ransom, were able to restrain the other until police arrived, the station reported.
But weeks after the incident, Harris said, he got a call saying he was being fired.
“Out of the blue, Michael and Devin were fired from the company without explanation as to what, if any policy was violated, or what they should have done differently about the situation,” the lawyer said in a press release.
Krupp told the station that he believes his client was fired, at least in part, because he was outspoken about the incident and safety issues at the store.
“We suspect that this is partially due to Michael’s outspokenness about the numerous complaints about safety issues and prior incidents at that store,” Krupp said.
Krupp believes that these policies are not fair to employees.
“There’s no way that an individual can be faced with danger, attempted potential death of themselves or another, and then once they’ve been hit or downed that they cannot defend themselves,” Krupp told the station.
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