Federal officials claim Starbucks cut workers hours at hundreds of unionized stores without bargaining over it and they want the coffee chain to pay up.

The general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint late Thursday alleging that Starbucks made the scheduling changes in late 2022 and early 2023 and didnt consult the union. As a result, shift supervisors and baristas at 290 stores saw their hours reduced.

Once workers have formed a union, its generally against the law for the employer to make changes to pay and scheduling without negotiation.

Starbucks insisted in a statement that it didnt violate the law.

We continuously review operations decisions to optimally address business needs and customer expectations, consistent with the law, the company said. Our decisions were made across our system, in unionized and non-unionized stores, and they were made without regard to organizing activity at Starbucks.

To make workers whole, the general counsel wants Starbucks to pay workers the wages and benefits they would have earned if their schedules hadnt been cut.

Since there are several thousand workers covered in the complaint, the amount of money owed could climb into the tens of millions of dollars, said Michael Dolce, an attorney representing the baristas union, Starbucks Workers United.

Dolce said one of the policy changes that reduced hours appears to have been in place for nearly two years. He also said that certain workers would have lost health care and other benefits once their scheduled hours dropped below a certain threshold.

By his calculations, the full scope of wages and benefits could be north of $30 million.

These are conservative estimates and the potential remedy could be much higher, Dolce said in an email.

The new NLRB complaint alleges Starbucks changed workers hours without prior notice to the Union and without affording the Union an opportunity to bargain. The complaint also says Starbucks has refused to provide the union information about the changes and how they impacted members paychecks.