[1/3] Starbucks workers attend a rally as they go on a one-day strike outside a store in Buffalo, New York, U.S., November 17, 2022. REUTERS/Lindsay DeDarioNEW YORK, July 24 (Reuters) - Starbucks (SBUX.O) violated U.S. labor law by firing a Manhattan store supervisor who had organized workers to join a union, a federal labor board judge ruled on Monday. The National Labor Relations Board established "striking and strong evidence of animus" behind Starbucks' termination of Rhythm Heaton as a shift supervisor at its Astor Place store, NLRB Administrative Law Judge Benjamin Green wrote. Green found it "particularly suspicious" that Starbucks would risk violating the law "by discharging an excellent employee at a time when the short-handed Astor Place store was already advertising to hire another shift supervisor." The manager of the Astor Place store testified that he supported the union and considered Heaton an "amazing leader," but cited Heaton's alleged violation of Starbucks' "attendance and punctuality policy" in the termination notice.

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Persons: Lindsay DeDario, Rhythm Heaton, Benjamin Green, Green, Astor, Heaton, Heaton's, Jonathan Stempel, Bill Berkrot, Sonali Paul Organizations: REUTERS, National Labor Relations Board, Starbucks, Workers, Workers United, Thomson Locations: Buffalo , New York, U.S, Manhattan, Astor, Washington, Seattle, United States, New York