A former vice president at Starbucks alleges she was dismissed after voicing concerns about maggots found in the company’s equipment.

Janice Waszak has initiated a lawsuit against Starbucks, claiming her termination followed her reports to superiors about maggots discovered in a milk dispenser and a separate fire incident due to a manufacturing flaw in the Siren System rollout, according to the Seattle Times.

“She deserved recognition for her honesty,” remarked her attorney, Michael C. Subit, in an interview with the outlet.

“Instead, they chose to fire her.”

Subit, alongside co-counsel Catherine Sellers, argues that Waszak’s dismissal was influenced by gender discrimination, asserting that Starbucks “allegedly terminated her for interpersonal behaviors that male employees have not been dismissed for.”

Waszak is now pursuing compensation, including reimbursement for lost earnings and legal expenses.

But Starbucks executives refute her claims, and have said they are looking forward to defending themselves in court. 

‘Safety is a top priority for Starbucks and these claims are entirely without merit,’ a spokesperson for the Seattle-based company told the Daily Mail.

‘Ms Waszak was separated from the company after an investigation into allegations that her conduct violated Starbucks workplace conduct policies,’ the spokesperson continued, adding: ‘We look forward to presenting our evidence in court.’ 

Janice Waszak, a former vice president at Starbucks, has filed a wrongful termination suit against her former employer

Waszak is seeking damages, including those for lost wages and attorney’s fees, from the Seattle-based company

Waszak had started working at the company as a brand manager back in 2004, and worked her way up to director of concept innovation – overseeing the development and testing of new initiatives – by 2016, according to the lawsuit.

Two years later, she started reporting to Natarajan Venkatakrishnan, who was then vice president of global equipment, and soon, his equipment engineering team created the Siren System – a proprietary equipment system focused on boosting productivity and profit at coffeehouses.

In a news release at the time, Starbucks described the system as ‘a series of equipment and technology improvements… to make crafting beverages and food more straightforward for partners.’

It was ‘intended to enable baristas to make any beverage in 40 seconds or less, and in doing so, significantly increase Starbucks’s efficiency and revenue,’ Waszak’s lawsuit claims. 

But when Venkatakrishnan presented the Siren System to senior executives in early 2022, two execs allegedly criticized his fiscal projections.

Neither was still working at the company months later, according to the suit filed in Kings County Superior Court.

‘Venkatakrishnan later bragged to Waszak that he had brought about the termination of both executives because they had spoken out against him,’ it says. 

By April 2022, testing of the Siren System fell under Waszak’s domain. 

At that point, she claims she noticed that maggots infested the system’s milk dispenser due to improper cleaning – and larvae even fell out of the machine during a demonstration for Starbucks leadership.

‘Baristas flicked the maggots away to avoid attendees seeing them,’ the lawsuit alleges. 

She started working at the company as a brand manager back in 2004

Her lawsuit claims she was fired after she brought up concerns over the company’s Siren System. A barista is pictured pouring steamed milk into a cup in 2019

It also says that she soon learned from employees that the system’s design ‘was too complicated’ to be properly sanitized, and team members told her they were afraid to report accurate tests results to Venkatakrishnan out of fear that he would ‘get mad,’ MyNorthwest reports.

Waszak ultimately told Venkatakrishnan about the health and safety risks that she found, but he allegedly moved forward with the implementation plans for the Siren System.

By 2023, Waszak was promoted to a vice president position, in which she oversaw the testing of the Siren System.

At one point, she claims she noticed a milk dispenser caught fire because of a manufacturing defect.

Yet when she reported her concerns to Vekatakrishnan and other company executives, tensions between her and her boss escalated, and Starbucks continued its nationwide rollout of the Siren System.

The suit alleges that tensions between her and her boss, Natarajan Venkatakrishnan (pictured), elevated after she brought up her concerns with the safety of the system

Eventually, Waszak claims she met with a human resources manager to discuss the problems she was facing, including that Venkatakrishnan allegedly yelled at her and criticized her, bringing her to tears.

She even decided to file a complaint against her boss in December 2023, but later that month, she was fired for violating the company’s antibullying and harassment policy, according to the lawsuit. 

It claims that after she was informed of her termination, Waszak learned that an employee complained about her, citing criticisms and vague instructions.

But Waszak allegedly discovered that an ethics and compliance officer investigated the accusations and determined she had not contributed to a hostile work environment.

The officer allegedly recommended she receive a warning, but the company fired her anyway.

‘We don’t believe the reason they gave,’ Subit said, arguing that his client ‘infuriated her bosses by not backing down and he got rid of her.’

Subit and Sellers also argue that Waszak faced sex discrimination because ‘we don’t believe that men were held to this standard,’ he said. 

Deployment of the Siren System was curtailed under CEO Brian Niccol (pictured in September)

According to his LinkedIn page, Venkatakrishnan continues to work at Starbucks as a senior vice president.

His Siren System led to the formal introduction of the Siren Craft System, a project that began in 2023 and was formally introduced to the public the following year.

‘The role of [the] Siren Craft System is really about helping to capture the demand that we have by shortening customer wait time, while elevating connection, elevating the quality of our coffee and celebrating the craft of our baristas each and every day,’ Sara Trilling, a former executive vice president and president of Starbucks North America said in a statement at the time.

By the end of May 2024, over 1,100 US coffeehouses were using the Siren Craft System, the Seattle Times reports.

But under CEO Brian Niccol, who took over the company that September, the system’s deployment was curtailed.

It is now unclear how many coffeehouses still use the system.