Starbucks employee was fired illegally, labor board judge rules

The coffee giant will be required to reinstate Hannah Whitbeck's job and to hold a meeting reasserting that the company broke the law

Starbucks illegally fired an employee at one of the coffee giant's shops in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for engaging in union activism, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Friday.

The decision requires Starbucks to offer the worker reinstatement with back pay and to hold a meeting with employees, management, government representatives and the union to clarify workers' rights and reassert the board's finding that the company broke the law.