US coffee giant Starbucks has been ordered to pay back more than $100 million in tips owed to staff across outlets in California.
A San Diego court ruled in favor of a 'barista' from a store in La Jolla who filed a lawsuit in 2004 arguing that supervisors were unfairly receiving a share of pooled tips from customers.
Lawyers argued that Starbucks was breaching state law by allowing supervisors to receive tips instead of paying them a higher salary.
The court ruled that the company must pay back around $87m in tips plus interest of $19m.
It is not immediately clear how the money might be divided up between the estimated 100,000 current and former staff who have worked for Starbucks at different times in California since 2000.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying that baristas were 'subsidising Starbucks labour costs' and said tha action was about getting money back to the lowest-paid employees.
Starbucks vowed to appeal and described the ruling as beyond all common sense and reason.
The court ruling came as Starbucks launched a series of intiatives aimed at boosting its business, which has suffered from a dip in sales and a near-50% fall in share price over the past year.
The decline in US customer traffic in last year was the first in Starbucks' history.
Cash-strapped US consumers are cutting back on Starbucks $3 to $5 coffee drinks as the costs of petrol and other essentials rise.
