Wow she said sundays off for religion is not an acceptable excuse? Whats not an acceptable excuse is her making the staffing issues ur problem

Yeahhh , obviously your store manager doesn’t get it, so I would talk to your district manager about the situation, if they don’t accommodate you should call ethics and compliance— phone number and steps to take should be where y’all keep the schedules at your store :) best of luck, that’s very unfair of your manager

escalate this to HR

HAHAHA this is genuinely illegal if you are in the United States. Employers are required to provide religious accommodation - within reason, of course, but they have to prove that giving you the Sabbath off will cause "undue hardship" to the company.

Take it to the DM and call PCC.

That's absurd. It's religious accommodation,, they have to allow your schedule to stay the same. Especially since you were hired with that availability.
It's not your fault the store is short staffed. It's theirs. Hire an extra person.
I would definitely call your DM. I'm new so I don't know alot but I feel there is something than can be done

So a few things here,

1) Your SM is allowed to make decisions about what availability they’re willing to accept from you.
2) You have a right to apply for a religious accommodation through Sedgwick which, if approved, can get your Sundays off. However a religious accommodation is a difficult accommodation to get just FYI
3) If you call Ethics, PRC, your DM, etc. they’re all going to tell you the same thing, get a religious accommodation.
4) Your manager is, technically speaking, not allowed to accommodate you without an official accommodation because it can, again technically, be construed as favoritism. This is the same reason I make everyone apply for an accommodation, regardless of the nature of their request.

Religious things or not, if you aren’t available, you aren’t available. For me, I couldn’t be there Saturdays because I had class, and (non religious person speaking) both are important to a persons well being and having a social life outside of work.

Are they requiring every partner in the store to work on Sunday?

As an Athiest, I'll be taking Sundays off too from now on. I definitely would rather deal with the church than work Sunday.

Sounds like an HR issue to me because your manager seems like a fucking idiot.

I can’t say this will help for sure, but before applying for an official religious accommodation I suggest talking to your pastor/reverend/etc. first. Explain your situation, they may be able to coach you on how to write an effective and clear case for an accommodation. Maybe a letter explaining why having the Sabbath off is important and why you need that accommodation granted would go a long way.

Call ethics and bring up Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Unless your manager requires every single partner to be available on Sunday, that is religious discrimination. Also does your state have it's own labor board?

Wait so they asked you to change your availability to include Sunday’s? Is that right? Because if that’s the case then no sorry, they have your availability that they approved and they cannot change that without your consent. So yes call ethics and compliance but also know you do NOT have to fill out a new availability form because they already okayed the initial one. And also it’s not your problem they are understaffed that’s their problem to fix not you or the other partners. They are trying to take advantage of all of you and the right thing to do would be to change the store hours to accommodate everyone’s APPROVED availabilities. I fucking hate people sometimes.

Also I’m not sure you are in the US.

i’m not even religious and see that this is a massive problem on management’s end

I've always felt like this was the same as smokers who take more breaks that the non-smokers and somehow that's acceptable. I'm conflicted on this because in that work environment you kinda have to at least work weekends every so often. I'm assuming you work Saturday. Idk but this is also coming from a non-religious person who has seen so many abuse the whole religion excuse. I hate it.

I’m not religious and this makes me mad for you. That’s absolutely ridiculous. Definitely call the partner help line, your DM, and the ethics number.

Just email your dm, and go higher if you have to. I also don’t work Sundays though… If it was an issue they shouldn’t have hired you, yet they did… it’s on them at this point. (What state do you line in btw).

Title 7 covers religion and religious accommodation, that’s what you point out. Call HR if you need too. It should be hung up in your break room. It’s good if you do get hr involved because if your manager starts cutting your hours it can be seen as a form of retaliation.

Lol I love all the massively illegal shit that gets posted here. It’s not awful at all. /s

Super illegal, call a lawyer to sue, easily winnable case of religious discrimination. Any good lawyer would take the case.

Ohhhhh. I’ve heard of this. It’s because Starbucks doesn’t give a shit about its employees.

Escalate it to your DM, then E&C if nothing happens, go to Department of Labor, also keep a paper trail, because that is religious discrimination, and if they (Starbucks) let it happen, alot of lawyers will go pro bono and you can get a hefty settlement for it

Lol @ them

My availability is 6 days a week and Sunday is my only day for golf. They couldn't take that away from me if they tried.

Unionize

What happens at an exploitative business or company is that if they are forced to give you a day off for religious observance, they will find a way to give you more days off than you can handle.

Work when we want you to, or don’t work at all.

You can’t be forced to work on days of religious observance because you have freedom of religion and if you have the resources to escalate it in court, you’re likely to get a desirable outcome. Most people don’t have those resources.

They can’t fire you because of your religion, that’s discrimination. They can however fire you for any other reason they can find. That’s what a company ignoring the ethical obligation to their employees will do.

There should be an “ethics” line to call in the BOH. Maybe give them a shout to see what your options are.

Yeah. So this is illegal. And if they try to fire you for not showing up on a Sunday even if you are scheduled, that's also illegal.

Illegal as fuck... go straight to your DM. (I would do this before going to HR). This is extremely inappropriate, and tell your DM that you are ready to contact HR at a moments notice. That's a fire-able offense for your GM, and they should feel a shit ton of pressure for being a dickhead about that entire situation.

Religion is one of those excuses you just don't touch... and your GM just did... so now you have all the power in this situation, don't feel bad about it, your GM fucked up.

Do everything by email, create a paper trail that you can use to take to HR. If your DM wants to meet in person, record the meeting without telling anyone. This is now all about you, and don't expect your GM or DM to have your back AT ALL.... this is now all about you, and now your DM and GM are going to be in emergency mode all about themselves, so cover your own ass.

Edit: after looking at the comments, u/aint_that_right seems to have the best grasp of it, id take their advice and get the religious accommodation before doing anything else.

Your manager cannot make you change your availability. Take it to district/regional/HR

religious reasons or otherwise, your availability is your availability and needs to be respected. your manager is being ridiculous and needs to either hire more staff or get over themselves.

personally, I have set my availability around my weekly dnd sessions and my manager has asked no questions or for the most part ever bothered me about it. occasionally he'll ask if I can cover someone on that day, but then I just say I can't I'm not available this day of the week and then there's no further questions.

this is the absolute bare minimum that should be expected of a manager regarding availability and if your manager isn't adhering to it then they're not doing their job well. I hope everything gets sorted out. I'd hesitate to call this type of behavior "discriminatory" since christianity is the majority religion in the americas and europe (assuming you live there) but it is certainly very shitty.

This is illegal.

Get your district manager involved, and if they don’t support you escalate it further.

You can legally sue them over this. Good luck.

Ummmmm SUE Starbucks got money

Get that in writing, and sue the ever loving fuck out of your store. Power hungry management who will never admit personal fault will always listen to a lawsuit :)

That's illegal. It's religious discrimination. Tell your DM

that's actually illegal to do... they legally can't deny your request to have a day where you are unavailable for religious reasons. It's apart of the title VII of the civil rights act of 1964 which says an employer must not discriminate against their employee, which includes not accommodating their religious practices (which is having Sunday off). although the act also says an employer can deny you only if it brings a distress to the company (which you mention your SM said he can't find coverage and it would "harm" the store, you not working on Sundays) it's a loop hole an employer can use.

but in reality, I'm sure he is pulling some sort of power move on you. it's literally one day you need specifically off and nothing more. I'm sure if you do go to HR and say this is discrimination (which you legally can) he can pull the loop hole that your day off effects the store's ability to function (which in reality is probably a lie)

Manager Fired

escalate to partner resources my dude

Don’t know about other countries but I’m canada they cannot do that. We have the human rights code that says region is protected and you have every right to have that day off

So that is the last time you should ever give a reason why your availability is the way it is. "I'm not available" is acceptable. "Personal reasons" if asked again. None of their business. I assume you applied to the job with that availability. Therefor they knew when they hired you.

Call HR 100% that is not okay

Suuuuuuue

Call ethics and compliance, there should be a spall poster of it in your back room. It’s blue. If your American this is against your constitutional rights! And see if you can get it in writing why they are forcing you to change your schedule. Was there any other partners who heard this said? Keep this in mind and write it all down in detail

That’s a violation of the First Amendment 🤣 report that shit immediately

Nah go straight to PRSC. That’s unreal - this company is so ridiculous

Absolutely go to HR with this. Religion is always an acceptable reason for your availability and they have no right to tell you that you have to work outside of your availability.
Good luck!!

Do you have a paper trail for that comment? Because this is definitely some sort of violation.

Let me preface this with: Get a free consultation from an employment lawyer.

But from what you've laid out, it seems your employer has been well aware of you not working Sundays for religious reasons. This sounds like a reasonable religious accommodation. Employers typically have to honor these unless it causes them what's called "undue hardship," like legitimate financial or workplace safety issues — not just speculative. (Source: $1.)

Employers also aren't allowed to take negative action against you (i.e. firing or disciplining you or treating you differently) because of your religion or religious accommodations. If they do, I definitely suggest seeking a lawyer and at least $1.

Your SM is a piece of shit. They are incapable of doing their job right so they're laying it at your feet. I've been a partner since 2004 and started with an availability that has NEVER included Sunday. In all that time I have worked 2 Sundays as a favor for different SMs but I have never changed my availability, and would never, to include Sunday considering we have people in our store who won't work a Saturday or Sunday because they're TOO STRESSFUL (and no they don't have accommodations on file).

As a side note.. We've had 11 managers in all that time and not one has ever tried to bully me into changing my availability to include Sundays.

if it was a store manager or a SSV who told you this make a report to the district manager or go on the partner hotline. you are not obligated to ignore religious duties because of understaffing.

To a point yes, but then everyone uses that reason. Call PSRC. You can take a portion of the day off for religious reasons. Also, the manager has to require this of ALL staff.

This is why we need escalation training

That’s literally illegal. Religion is protected under the same discrimination laws as sex, marital status and disability. Escalate this as high as you can get it!

We’re you taking Saturday too ?

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Lol. Starbucks is a Monday-Sunday business. By all means, attempt to receive a religious accommodation through the proper means, but at the same time go work at chick-fil-a if you want Sunday’s off. If you are not available to meet the needs of the business as deemed by your sm then they do not have to accommodate a weekend day off for you. Wouldn’t we all like Sunday’s off to rest???? Yeah.
At any point, your sm can decide that your availability no longer fits the needs of the business. It is an availability request and your employment is at will.

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“Your availability doesn’t meet the store needs” and that is accurate.

I’m with your manager on this. Religion isn’t a valid excuse to have a day off

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You can always go to Chick Fil A if you need Sudays off that badly