I'm a reservist and SSV who was attracted to the idea of getting "up to 80 hours of pay" covered through military service pay offered by Starbucks. Basically, from what I understood from the benefits handbook, if you have reserve drill (normally 2 days of the month) during your time at Starbucks, you will get this benefit at your normal rate of pay to supplement your paycheck if you have military obligations. Pretty standard benefit offered to military reservists. Eligibility begins upon hire. One of the conditions is that you have to submit supporting documents at least 30 days in advance (or as soon as possible) and write your times in the book.

I had given my SM my drill schedule after I was hired and gave notice far beyond the 30 days that was required, as a courtesy. I had requested those days off with the reasoning of "military service" and indicated that I intended to use the military service pay benefit.

Well this past weekend was my drill, and upon further inquiry, it appears that I did not meet the criteria for eligibility for the pay. Because my manager scheduled my hours around my drill schedule, I didn't miss work and was not eligible for the pay.

I'm a SSV and have never called off or missed any of my scheduled shifts. Based off the fact that they require it at least 30 days notice before I intend to use the benefit (which I did!), how would it even be possible to miss work, if I am scheduled around it? It's like they are asking me to receive orders that conflict with my work schedule, so that I can miss work, where my partners rely on me, and make my managers find coverage at the last second. I had already put in my notice to quit prior to all this, but I am almost inclined to request military orders that conflict my scheduled shifts as a final send off to the company (#MaliciousCompliance).

This is so counterintuitive and makes literally no sense. This is such a scam. The benefit is targeted for reservist to dangle in front of their heads but with no intent to actually fulfill their end of the deal. For such a "military friendly" company, I would expect that the benefit be more open for eligible partners to use.