When can you kick someone from a store?

Businesses rethink rules after Starbucks arrests

Businesses rethink rules after arrest of two men in Philadelphia Starbucks

Under what circumstances can a clerk or other employee order someone to leave a store?

The answer is there are a few acceptable reasons, but legally they had better be consistent and within store policy — and race is never one of them.

The question has come up amid a national uproar stemming from the videotaped arrest of two black men at a Starbucks in Philadelphia.

The men were denied use of a restroom because they didn’t order food or drinks. The store manager called police when they refused to leave, explaining they were waiting for a friend. As video rolled, the friend arrived as police led the pair away in handcuffs. They were later released when Starbucks didn’t press charges.

In the video, they are neatly groomed, wearing casual clothes and not causing a ruckus.

“If somebody is being disruptive or occupying very limited space ... people would understand asking somebody to leave the premises,” says Reginald Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “But even so, there’s only a certain amount of leeway they have in doing that.”

Starbucks said Tuesday that it will

close its more than 8,000 companyowned stores in the U.S., as well as its corporate offices on the afternoon of May 29 to conduct anti-discrimination training. The company’s CEO apologized and had discussions with the two men who were arrested. The manager who called the police no longer works for the chain.

Someone who is “yelling and disrupting the environment . . . or damaging the property” could likely generally be asked to leave a store or restaurant, says Robert Dodge, an executive vice president with G4S Corporate Risk Services, a global risk consulting group. But specific policies for what constitutes unacceptable behavior can vary by business.

Dodge says that most companies will consult with an attorney to come up with guidelines. Starbucks said it is reviewing its policies but has not made them public. Once those policies are established, security professionals say it’s critical that companies apply them consistently to all customers. Appearance shouldn’t matter. “Whether they’re dressed in suits, whether they’re dressed in baggy pants, whether they’re dressed in sweatpants, the policy has to apply across the board, equally and fairly,” says Edward Troiano, owner of Knight Security, a Manhattan-based firm that provides protection services primarily at events and event spaces.

Customers should be made aware of the business’ rules, and if someone is believed to be violating them and asked to leave, they should still be treated with kindness and respect, Troiano says.

If they refuse to go, “then unfortunately, the third step which you never want to do is to say, ‘Look, you have to leave or we have to call the cops,’ ” he says. When that occurs, “you’ve got to make sure all those t’s (are crossed) and i’s are dotted, that you treated them fairly, you treated them equally and you treated them according to company policy and not because of anything else.”

The Starbucks incident is just the latest in a troubling string of bias allegations lodged by African Americans against businesses ranging from high-

“Whether they’re dressed in suits, whether they’re dressed in baggy pants, whether they’re dressed in sweatpants, the policy has to apply across the board, equally and fairly.”

Edward Troiano owner of Knight Security

end boutiques to chain restaurants. They include accusations by Oscarnominated actress Gabourey Sidibe that she was racially profiled at a Chanel store and the firing last month of three Applebee’s employees in Independence, Mo., who falsely accused two black women diners of skipping out on their bill the day before.

Starbucks stands out because it has embraced a role as a community meeting place where people read, work on computers or just hang out, whether they buy anything or not.

“The kind of discrimination witnessed at Starbucks resonates deeply with African Americans who still suffer the indignity of discrimination by retailers,” says Todd Cox, director of policy for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.