Business

Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo is scheduled to appear for a deposition.
Other top Fox TV hosts, including Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro and Tucker Carlson, have also been questioned in recent days.
Dominion says the network made false claims that its voting machines rigged the 2020 election; Fox News argues it’s protected by the First Amendment.

A person walks past Fox News Headquarters at the News Corporation building on May 03, 2022 in New York City.
Alexi Rosenfeld | Getty Images

Next week, Maria Bartiromo will join the parade of Fox personalities who are being called to answer questions in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against the network. 
Bartiromo, the anchor of Fox programs “Mornings with Maria” and “Sunday Morning Futures,” is slated to appear for a deposition on Sept. 8, according to court filings. 

In recent days, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Jeanine Pirro were among the network hosts scheduled to appear for questioning in Dominion’s lawsuit, which is seeking $1.6 billion in damages from the cable news network. Dominion has argued that Fox Corp.’s Fox News and Fox Business made false claims that its voting machines rigged the results of the 2020 election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Top brass Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch are also expected to be deposed since the parent company has been sued, too.
The case is being closely watched by First Amendment experts and advocates in part because of Dominion’s lengthy list of examples that Fox network hosts repeatedly made false claims, even after the facts came to light. Libel lawsuits are often centered around one falsehood, and media companies are broadly protected by the First Amendment.

Such cases are usually settled out of court or dismissed quickly by a court judge, experts say. But in December, the Delaware judge overseeing the Dominion case denied Fox News’ request to have the case dismissed.
Neither side has shown signs of entering discussions or reaching a settlement, according to people familiar with the matter, although that could change before the trial’s expected start in April. Fox has vigorously denied the claims.
“Fox has put forth a First Amendment argument that this defamation case is aimed at punishing their speech and journalism, and this is an important component of their argument,” said Roy Gutterman, an expert on communications law and free speech at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications.

But Gutterman said those rights can be limited “by the concept of falsity, especially if it can bring harm to an individual or business.” 
The depositions are private, as are the documents that Dominion has been collecting through the discovery process. Fox has asked the court to keep all of the collected materials private, claiming that Dominion mischaracterized what the documents show as actual malice.
In court papers, Dominion has pointed to the rhetoric of hosts like Bartiromo, a former CNBC anchor, and former host Lou Dobbs and that they continued to feature guests – including Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell – who made false claims that voter fraud was the reason Trump didn’t surpass Biden to win the 2020 election. Dobbs was also previously scheduled for questioning, filings show. 

FOX Business’ “Mornings With Maria” anchor Maria Bartiromo at Fox Business Network Studios on April 6, 2018 in New York City.
Slaven Vlasic | Getty Images

“Fox, one of the most powerful media companies in the United States, gave life to a manufactured storyline about election fraud that cast a then-little-known voting machine company called Dominion as the villain,” the company said in its initial court filing in March 2021.
Fox News’ legal team recently added veteran trial attorney Dan Webb to its roster. Webb told the Washington Post earlier this week that Fox News was only reporting on the news and claims being made by Trump’s allies. 
“We are confident we will prevail as freedom of the press is foundational to our democracy and must be protected, in addition to the damages claims being outrageous, unsupported and not rooting in sound financial analysis, serving as nothing more than a flagrant attempt to deter our journalists from doing their jobs,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement. 
To win a defamation case, a plaintiff needs to show that the individual or business they’re suing made false statements that caused harm, and that it acted with “actual malice,” meaning the speaker knew or should have known what they were saying wasn’t true. 
“A key issue in these depositions will be the state of mind of Fox as embodied by the journalists covering this or commenting on it,” said Floyd Abrams, a prominent First Amendment attorney. “What will someone like Lou Dobbs say? Will he say he believed what he was saying beyond simple reportage?”
Dominion said in court papers that it repeatedly sent emails to notify Fox News that its anchors and their guests were making false claims – and that Dominion had “independent fact-checkers, government officials and election security experts” that quashed those claims. 
In November 2020, a Dominion representative appeared on a Fox News program to respond to the claims of voter fraud by Trump and his allies.
Other current and former Fox News executives have been called on for depositions, court filings show.
Dominion has also filed lawsuits against the TV networks One America News and Newsmax. Another voting machine maker, Smartmatic USA, has made similar claims in a defamation lawsuit against Fox News that alleged Dobbs and other hosts falsely accused the company of helping to rig the election. A New York judge earlier this year denied Fox News’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Shortly after Smartmatic filed its lawsuit, Fox News canceled Dobbs’ weekday business show, “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” Fox has previously said the move to end Dobbs’ program was in the works prior to the lawsuit. 

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Homes in August sat on the market an average five days longer than they did a year ago.
The median listing price in August dropped to $435,000 from $449,000 in July
The average home sold for less than its list price for the first time in more than 17 months during the four-week period ended Aug. 28, according to Redfin.

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Home sellers are getting nervous, as the once-hot housing market cools fast.
One in 5 sellers in August dropped their asking price, according to Realtor.com. A year ago that share was just 11%.

The average home sold for less than its list price for the first time in over 17 months during the four-week period ended Aug. 28, according to a report by Redfin.
Homes are simply not selling at the breakneck pace they were six months ago, when strong demand butted up against tight supply, bidding wars were the norm, and a seller could often get a signed contract in under a weekend. Homes in August sat on the market an average five days longer than they did a year ago — the first annual increase in time on the market in more than two years.
The supply of homes for sale is also rising fast, up nearly 27% from a year ago, even as fewer sellers decide to list. Pending sales in July, which represent signed contracts on existing homes and which are the most recent sales data available, were nearly 20% lower than July 2021, according to the National Association of Realtors.

“For many of today’s buyers, the uptick in for-sale home options is taking away the sense of urgency that they felt during the past two years, when inventory was scarce,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “As a result of this shift, coupled with higher mortgage rates, competition continued to cool in August, with listing price trends indicating that home shoppers are tightening their purse strings.”
The median listing price in August dropped to $435,000 from $449,000 in July, according to Realtor.com.

Mortgage rates have been rising since January, hitting a recent high in June and then falling back slightly in July and much of August. They are, however, rising again and are now nearly matching that June high.
Redfin reported that requests for home tours and other homebuying services from its agents at the end of August was down 16% from the same period the year before. Touring activity was also down 9% from the start of the year, compared with an 11% increase at the same time last year, according to home tour technology company ShowingTime.
“The post-Labor Day slowdown will likely be a little more intense this year than in previous years when the market was super tight,” said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist. “Expect homes to linger on the market, which may lead to another small uptick in the share of sellers lowering their prices.”

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Chobani is withdrawing plans for an initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.
The food and beverage company filed in November to go public on the Nasdaq using the ticker “CHO.”
It’s been a rocky year for the stock market, leading to a drought of IPOs.

Packages of Chobani yogurt sit on the shelf at a grocery store July 7, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images

Chobani is withdrawing its plans for an initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.
The food and beverage company filed in November to go public on the Nasdaq Exchange using the ticker “CHO.” Reuters reported the yogurt maker was seeking a valuation of more than $10 billion.

But it’s been a rocky year for the stock market, leading to a drought of IPOs. In the second quarter, there were just 41 initial public offerings in the Americas, down 73% from the year-earlier period, according to a recent EY report. Chobani joins payroll vendor Justworks, grocer Fresh Market and file-sharing company WeTransfer in canceling its IPO this year.
In an emailed statement, Chobani cited current market conditions for the withdrawal.
“Our focus remains on strong execution and driving profitable growth, and we continue to be excited about the future of Chobani,” the statement said.
In recent years, Chobani has expanded its product portfolio beyond Greek yogurt, adding oat milk, coffee creamers, cold brew coffee and yogurt drinks to its roster.
In its IPO filing, the company said its revenue grew 5.2% to $1.4 billion from 2019 to 2020. However, its net loss more than tripled during that time, reaching $58.7 million, as it invested back into its business. Chobani said it planned to use a portion of the proceeds from the IPO to pay down debt. The company also said it would reorganize its corporate structure as part of the process.

In March, amid delays to its IPO, Chobani’s then-operating chief Peter McGuinness left for Impossible Foods, where he now serves as chief executive. Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in a statement that the departures of top leaders like McGuinness have cast a shadow over Chobani, despite its strong sales growth.
“This has given the impression of serious disagreements at the top which is not exactly the message a business looking to go public wants to impart,” he said.

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General Motors is offering buyouts to U.S. Buick dealers that don’t want to make investments in the brand’s transition to exclusively offer all-electric vehicles domestically by 2030.
The buyout offers are the latest efforts by GM to accelerate the company’s electric vehicle plans and transform its sales network.
The company offered similar buyouts to Cadillac dealers in 2020.

Billboards at the Ziegler Cadillac, Buick and GMC Dealership in Lincolnwood, Illinois, the United States. U.S. General Motors Co.
Joel Lerner | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

DETROIT – General Motors is offering buyouts to U.S. Buick dealers that don’t want to make investments in the brand’s transition to exclusively offer all-electric vehicles domestically by 2030, the automaker confirmed Friday.
The buyout offers, which are being outlined to Buick dealers Friday, are the latest efforts by GM to accelerate the company’s electric vehicle plans and transform its sales network.

All of Buick’s roughly 2,000 U.S. franchise dealers will be given the opportunity to take a buyout, Duncan Aldred, global head of Buick, told The Wall Street Journal.
“Not everyone necessarily wants to make that journey, depending on where they’re located or the level of expenditure that the transition will demand,” he told the publication. “So if they want to exit the Buick franchise, then we will give them monetary assistance to do so.”
Michelle Malcho, a company spokeswoman, on Friday confirmed the buyout plans to CNBC but declined to disclose the expected cost or how many dealers GM anticipates will take the offer. Many Buick dealers also sell GMC vehicles or another one of GM’s U.S. brands.
The company offered similar buyouts to Cadillac dealers in 2020. About 320 of those 880 retailers accepted the offer rather than assume expectations to invest at least $200,000 toward upgrading dealerships for electric vehicles.
Buyout offers for Cadillac dealers ranged from about $300,000 to more than $1 million, a person familiar with the plans previously told CNBC. Malcho declined to disclose how much Buick dealers would be offered.

Buick’s EV plans are part of a broader $30 billion investment by GM into electric vehicles by 2025. That investment is expected to lead to about 30 new EVs globally from the automaker, which has pledged to exclusively offer electric vehicles by 2035.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the correct number of retailers accepting buyout offers from GM.

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Disney and Comcast have an existing arrangement in which Disney will acquire Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu as early as 2024.
Top Comcast executives believe Disney will stick to the agreement.
Comcast sees value in Hulu and some executives believe it’s a better fit for NBCUniversal than Disney.

Rafael Henrique | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

The future of Hulu continues to be an open question as Comcast and Disney still haven’t agreed on terms that will settle the company’s future ownership.
But Comcast executives are planning on Disney buying them out — even if they’d prefer otherwise.

Disney owns two-thirds of Hulu and has an option to buy the remaining 33% from Comcast as early as January 2024. Some analysts and industry watchers have speculated Comcast might try to buy Hulu from Disney rather than the other way around. Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts has been a long-time believer in Hulu and has historically pushed to keep the asset rather than sell, including in 2013, when Roberts nixed talks with DirecTV, according to people familiar with the matter.
Comcast broached the idea of buying all of Hulu from Disney after Disney agreed to acquire the majority of Fox’s assets as part of a $71 billion deal that closed in early 2019, said two of the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. Disney, armed with 66% ownership after acquiring Fox’s minority stake in Hulu, dismissed the idea, the people said.
Blocked from buying all of Hulu, Comcast’s sustained belief in the business led to the unusual agreement the two companies reached in May 2019, with Comcast agreeing to sell Disney its minority stake as early as 2024. As part of that transaction, Disney guaranteed a sale price valuing Hulu at a minimum of $27.5 billion.
That amount spiked earlier in the pandemic, giving Comcast some hope that Disney may choose to unload Hulu rather than pay Comcast a huge check for the remainder, two of the people said. Offloading Hulu would have allowed Disney to put its focus and money primarily on Disney+.
“I think if Disney could roll back the clock today, I’m not so sure they would enter into that deal,” said Neil Begley, an analyst for Moody’s Investors Services. “Disney has this huge bill to pay in 2024 at a time when they’re already investing a lot of money into Disney+.”

Acquiring Hulu from Disney would also supercharge Comcast’s streaming efforts. Hulu would instantly become Comcast’s flagship streaming asset, replacing NBCUniversal’s Peacock, which has added just 13 million paid subscribers in its nearly two years of existence. Hulu has 46.2 million subscribers. Peacock could live on as NBCUniversal’s free advertising-supported option. Peacock already has a free tier, with millions of users.
Several top Comcast executives also think Hulu doesn’t make as much sense paired with Disney’s assets as it would at NBCUniversal, especially with the recent announcement that Disney+ plans to launch an advertising-supported tier in December, according to people familiar with the matter. Hulu has been Disney’s advertising-supported service for years. Disney could have positioned Hulu as its advertising play going forward, but CEO Bob Chapek has chosen to make versions of both Disney+ and Hulu with and without commercials.
Spokespeople for Disney and Comcast declined to comment.

Bob Chapek, CEO of the Walt Disney Company and former head of Walt Disney Parks and Experiences, speaks during a media preview of the D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, Aug. 22, 2019.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg via Getty Images

Why Disney wants Hulu

Netflix’s slowing growth this year has led to an overall devaluation in the streaming sector. Comcast executives value Hulu “significantly higher” than $27.5 billion, and possibly up to $50 billion, one of the people said. That’s down from around $60 billion during the pandemic, the person said. If Disney sticks to its plan to buy out Comcast by January 2024, there’s still time for significant valuation fluctuations.
Disney’s decision to lower Disney+’s 2024 guidance and its subsequent move to raise prices signaled to Wall Street that Chapek is no longer focused on adding subscribers at all costs.
It’s sent a signal to Comcast that Hulu is likely in Disney’s long-term plans. Excluding Hulu with Live TV, Hulu’s average revenue per user is $12.92 per month. That’s nearly triple Disney+’s global ARPU of $4.35 and more than double Disney+’s ARPU in the U.S. and Canada ($6.27).
Disney has built a streaming strategy around bundling Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. While Disney raised Disney+’s price by 38% and ESPN+’s price by 43%, it only bumped its bundled offering of Disney+, Hulu (with ads) and ESPN+ by $1, from $13.99 to $14.99. That suggests Disney’s most preferred option is customers pay for the entire bundle, including Hulu.
Media and entertainment companies have begun focusing on building profitable subscribers, rather than simply acquiring subscribers, in recent months as industrywide streaming growth has slowed. If Disney isn’t trading on Disney+ growth, Hulu becomes a more important part of its long-term strategy.
“People are getting more judicious about their spend,” Kevin Mayer, Disney’s former head of streaming, said on CNBC last month. “There’s a renewed emphasis from Wall Street not just on the topline subscriber number but on the bottom line. I think that’s healthy.”

Comcast vs. Disney

There’s also the issue of competitive dynamics. A primary reason Disney held on to Hulu, and acquired other Fox assets, was specifically to keep them from Comcast, according to people familiar with the matter. Handing Hulu to Comcast would alter the balance of power in the media world and weaken Disney, then-CEO Bob Iger thought, the people said.
Comcast has already taken steps to weaken Hulu, assuming Disney will keep it. Earlier this year, Comcast made the decision to remove content such as “Saturday Night Live” and “The Voice” from the streaming service and put it on Peacock instead. That change takes place later this month.
Comcast has already earmarked some of the proceeds it’ll receive toward paying down debt. Comcast executives say they don’t need the cash and aren’t independently looking to accelerate a timeline, two of the people said.

Dan Loeb’s desire

Daniel Loeb
Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Activist investor Dan Loeb’s Third Point Capital bought a new stake in Disney last month, arguing Disney should not only complete its deal for Hulu, it should accelerate its timing.
“We urge the company to make every attempt to acquire Comcast’s remaining minority stake prior to the contractual deadline in early 2024,” Loeb said in a letter addressed to Chapek. “We believe that it would even be prudent for Disney to pay a modest premium to accelerate the integration but are cognizant that the seller may have an unreasonable price expectation at this time (while noting the seller has already made the decision to prematurely remove their own content from the platform.) We know this is a priority for you and hope there is a deal to be had before Comcast is contractually obligated to do so in about 18 months.”
Disney hasn’t publicly addressed the specifics of Loeb’s requests and hasn’t made a decision on whether it plans to speed up a timeline to buy Comcast’s stake in Hulu, according to people familiar with the matter.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC.
WATCH: Disney membership in the works and could offer exclusive content or experiences

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The PGA Tour has denied the renewal of memberships for LIV-affiliated players.
Players like Phil Mickelson, who previously had a lifetime membership, will not have memberships for the 2022-2023 season.
The LIV players had previously been suspended indefinitely from the tour.

Team Captain Phil Mickelson of Hy Flyers GC watches a shot on the practice range during day one of the LIV Golf Invitational – Bedminster at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on July 29, 2022 in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Jonathan Ferrel | LIV Golf | Getty Images

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It was a very busy week here at the CNBC Investing Club — no major shakeups to the portfolio, but we still made lots of trades to take advantage of this turbulent market. Bottom line The lingering effects of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech last Friday, Aug. 26, gave us an opportunity to be buyers. As the market got overbought in recent weeks, according to the S & P Oscillator , we raised cash. This week, we deployed some of it as market conditions turned to oversold. To be exact, we were net buyers to the tune of $84,763.21 — that’s how much our cash on hand fell by this week when factoring in what we raised in three small sales against our many purchases. This is consistent with our discipline of putting money to work as the S & P Oscillator becomes oversold. Here’s a recap of all our moves in one place. Monday This was our most active day of the week, making two sales in the oil patch to lighten our energy exposure and six purchases: three in high-quality but beaten-down tech names, two in our newest positions — TJX Companies (TJX) and Starbucks (SBUX) — and one health-care name. We were trying to take advantage of Monday’s broader weakness as Wall Street continued to fret about Powell’s hawkish speech, which proved to be a common theme for most of the week. Early in the session, we made four buys : 95 Amazon (AMZN) shares, 50 shares of Qualcomm (QCOM), 150 Starbucks shares at roughly $83 each and, lastly, 200 shares of TJX, the company behind T.J. Maxx, Marshall’s and HomeGoods. We also upgraded our Amazon rating to a 1 , meaning we’re buyers here, as we feel confident margin improvement is underway. We followed these purchases up by trimming 200 shares of Devon Energy (DVN), registering a roughly 63% gain on stock we bought back in January. With stock trading near its 52-week high Monday and energy outperforming the market, our discipline said we needed to make the DVN move. The reason is we’re trying to ensure our energy hedge does not grow to be too large compared with the rest of the portfolio. Our final moves Monday : scooping up 50 shares of the defensive Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), buying 25 Microsoft (MSFT) shares and lightening up our Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) position by selling 20 shares. The logic behind our trim of PXD mirrored the Devon sale. And like we did with Amazon, we upgraded Microsoft shares to a 1. Tuesday Stocks finished lower Tuesday, bringing Wall Street’s then-losing streak to three days. During the session, we used the selling pressure to keep building out our positions in off-price retailer TJX and Starbucks. Those are the two newest stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust, the portfolio we use for the Club. We added Starbucks on Aug. 22 , followed by TJX on Aug. 24 . We like to start small when buying a new stock, then opportunistically grow the position into weakness, helping us lower our cost basis. We did just that Monday and then again Tuesday. On Tuesday , we added 100 shares of Starbucks and 150 TJX shares. This brought our Starbucks position to 525 shares and our TJX holdings to 700. For reference, when initiated the positions in late August, we started with 275 SBUX shares and 350 TJX shares. Starbucks was called up from our Bullpen watch list. TJX was not in the Bullpen but had been a stock we wrote about prior to our initiation. Wednesday Another down day for the major U.S. stock benchmarks, another day where we put to work some of the cash we raised during the late stages market’s two-month summer rally. Around midday Wednesday , with the market sitting in oversold territory, we bought 25 shares of chip designer Nvidia (NVDA) and 150 more shares of TJX. While Nvidia shares would go on to fall much lower one day later, thanks to unexpected news that the U.S. is restricting some chip sales in China, our strategy to only nibble at Nvidia helped cushion some of the blow. We’re taking a more cautious approach now, as we wait for the dust to settle on these new limits on chip sales in China. Late in Wednesday’s session , we added to our Danaher (DHR) holdings by 35 shares and took advantage of oil’s intraday reversal to the upside by selling 25 shares of Pioneer. Despite the sale, we still ultimately put more money to work in the market than we took out since stocks remained oversold. We also upgraded Danaher to a 1 rating, believing this high-quality, defensive company is at attractive levels after its recent pullback. Thursday A quiet day for us, comparatively speaking, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S & P 500 mounted intraday reversals to snap their then-losing streak of four sessions. The Nasdaq , however, finished in the red to notch its first five-day losing streak since February. Our lone move was buying 75 shares of Starbucks, bringing our total holdings of the coffee chain to 600 shares. We wanted to take advantage of the market remaining in oversold territory, according to S & P Oscillator. However, it wasn’t oversold enough for us to aggressively buy in Thursday’s tape. After the closing bell, Starbucks named a new CEO, which we found encouraging . We’re also looking ahead to Starbucks’ Sept. 13 Investor Meeting . (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AMZN, PXD, DVN, NVDA, QCOM, MSFT, DHR, TJX, SBUX and JNJ. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

Jim Cramer on Squawk on the Street, June 30, 2022.
Virginia Sherwood | CNBC More

The city said case is the first suit under New York City’s “Just Cause” worker protections.
The city is demanding the worker be reinstated and given restitution and backpay.

A cup of Starbucks coffee sits on a table in a cafe.
Joel Boh | Reuters

New York City is suing Starbucks over allegations that the company wrongfully terminated a barista and union organizer.
The city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection said the case marks its first lawsuit for a violation of New York City’s “just cause” protections for fast-food workers.

Austin Locke, a longtime barista and union organizer, was fired less than a month after he and his coworkers voted to unionize a Starbucks in Queens, according to the lawsuit. The store is one of dozens of Starbucks locations that have voted to unionize.
Starbucks had said that Locke was fired for failing to fill out a Covid-19 questionnaire and falsely reporting that a supervisor made physical contact with him, according to the city’s lawsuit. The missteps were reportedly confirmed by surveillance footage, but the suit states that Locke’s district and store manager did not let him see that footage. Locke’s shifts were canceled, and he filed a complaint to the city days later.
“We do not comment on pending litigation,” a Starbucks representative wrote to CNBC. “However, we do intend to defend against the alleged violations of the New York City Just Cause Law.”
Under the city’s Fair Workweek law, it is illegal to fire workers who have completed a 30 day probation or reduce their hours by more than 15% without just cause or an economic justification.
The city is suing to get Locke reinstated and to win him restitution and back pay, which the city says will continue to accrue until Locke returns to his job.

“It’s been a year since the campaign with Starbucks Workers United began at a Starbucks in Buffalo, NY,” said Austin Locke in a statement released by the city. “There are now 235 unionized Starbucks around the country. Starbucks continues to wrongfully fire pro-union workers nationwide in retaliation for union organizing.”
Starbucks has seen a wave of stores unionize across the country, and organizers have brought claims of retaliation by the company. Howard Schultz returned to the company as interim CEO amid the labor push, and has said he wants to reinvent the employee, customer and store experience to better reflect how the world has changed since the pandemic. The company named its new CEO on Thursday.
–CNBC’s Dan Mangan and Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.

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