Briar Wolf is a 54-year-old trans woman who until recently was employed at the Starbucks location on North Memorial Pkwy in Huntsville, Alabama. Wolf, who is also a member of the Starbucks Workers United union, SBWU, was fired following an incident where an individual entered her store, attempted to tear down a pride flag that was displayed in the store and verbally assaulted employees, including Wolf, with anti-LGBTQ+ slurs.
According to the notice informing Wolf of her termination, Wolf was fired for yelling at the individual for attempting to tear down the pride flag and “failing to deescalate” a situation in which she was being verbally assaulted. After exiting the store, the individual reappeared at the drive-thru window where they continued to verbally assault staff according to Wolf. Per the notice of separation, Wolf once again engaged the individual, “blowing kisses” at them and yelling at the individual until they left the location.
SBWU is now demanding Wolf’s reinstatement, slamming Starbucks’ decision to fire Wolf as a failure by the company to protect its workers from harassment.
A post made to the Starbucks Workers United Birmingham Instagram account called Wolf’s firing a “disgusting display of how Starbucks does not actually protect its queer and LGBTQ workers. And will throw all of its workers under the bus when we’re facing any real danger.”
Wolf told APR that Starbucks initially reassured her that she would receive the company’s support following the incident.
“A few days [after the incident], my district manager came around and asked about it, took statements from everybody, and told me, ‘hey, we’ve got your back here. We’re going to make sure that this gets taken care of,’” Wolf told APR. “I think, ‘okay, cool, it’s nice to have some support.’ And then Tuesday of last week they fired me over it because they said that I failed to follow Starbucks policy to deescalate the situation.”
According to Wolf, she was told that the decision to fire her came directly from Starbucks’ corporate legal team. Wolf told APR that she believes she may have been fired in-part because of her union involvement.
“I feel like they used me as a scapegoat… I feel like it wouldn’t have come directly to termination if I was not a union organizer, because myself, and there’s one other trans woman that’s still at the store, are the only two of the original union organizers that are left at that store,” Wolf explained. “And they’ve been harassing her and riding her for a lot of ridiculous stuff… when they get rid of her there will be no other union organizers at the store.”
“I’ve never been written up. I’ve never been disciplined for anything previous to this, never had even like a verbal coaching previous to this,” she added.
Wolf also said she believes the incident that led to her firing may have been tied to a recent trend where individuals visit Starbucks locations and ask baristas to write “Charlie Kirk” on their drink orders–an homage to the controversial far-right political commentator who was assassinated in September. Wolf said that she was outspoken about the issue with her colleagues, informing them that they had the right to refuse to write anything on a cup that might make them feel uncomfortable.
“I was very outspoken about that, and my manager knew that I was outspoken about that. So again, that’s just another way that I feel like they saw me as a liability in that store and really wanted to get rid of me,” Wolf explained.
Wolf also questioned why she was fired for failing to deescalate the situation, while her store manager, who was present during the incident, faced no repercussions. According to Wolf, that same manager had also faced several complaints for making homophobic statements and misgendering transgender employees.
“[She] also failed to deescalate the situation, but somehow, magically, she didn’t get fired for not deescalating and I did,” Wolf told APR.
Additionally, Wolf wondered if her termination was related to a leave of absence she had scheduled for the end of October in order to receive gender-affirming surgery.
“I just think it’s weirdly coincidental that the decision to fire me cropped up like immediately after I put in for a leave of absence to have gender-affirming surgery at the end of this month,” Wolf said. “I put in to have the leave of absence on September 25 and then got fired on October 3.”
Wolf explained that her experience with Starbucks–both before and after her firing–has left her feeling disenchanted with how the company treats its LGBTQ+ employees.
“I think that it’s really a big game of bait and switch that they advertise themselves as ‘hey, look at us, we’re great for LGBTQ people because we have this amazing insurance and we’re a wonderful place for LGBTQ people to work, and even though nobody else wants you, we’ll take you here at Starbucks and you’ll be safe here,’” Wolf said. “But once you get in, you realize no, there are transphobic and homophobic managers, there are transphobic and homophobic policies in place about the way you dress, your name that you use, all sorts of things that are that are contrary to how they present themselves as this champion for LGBTQ employment.”
While a spokesperson for Starbucks declined to directly comment on Wolf’s termination, they did emphasize the company’s commitment to supporting the LGBTQ+ community in a written statement provided to APR.
“We’re currently reviewing the situation and are not able to comment further, but there should be no doubt about Starbucks multi-decade commitment to the LGBTQIA2+ community and our track record of tangible support,” the spokesperson wrote.
Wolf said that her union representatives plan to file an unfair labor practice claim with the National Labor Relations Board once the current government shutdown ends if she has not been reinstated by Starbucks before then. If that claim is unsuccessful, then the union plans to file a suit against Starbucks for wrongful termination on Wolf’s behalf.
