By DEE-ANN DURBIN

Starbucks workers in three states took legal action against the coffee giant Wednesday, saying it violated the law when it changed its dress code but refused to reimburse employees who had to buy new clothes.

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The employees, who are backed by the union organizing Starbucks’ workers, filed class-action lawsuits in state court in Illinois and Colorado. Workers also filed complaints with California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency. If the agency decides not to seek penalties against Starbucks, the workers intend to file a class-action lawsuit in California, according to the complaints.

The Associated Press left a message with Starbucks Wednesday seeking comment.

Starbucks’ new dress code went into effect on May 12. It requires all workers in North America to wear a solid black shirt with short or long sleeves under their green aprons. Shirts may or may not have collars, but they must cover the midriff and armpits. Starbucks gave each employee two free T-shirts that comply with the new guidelines.

Employees must wear khaki, black or blue denim bottoms without patterns or frayed hems or solid black dresses that are not more than 4 inches above the knee. The dress code also requires workers to wear black, gray, dark blue, brown, tan or white shoes made from a waterproof material. Socks and hosiery must be “subdued,” the company said.

The dress code prohibits employees from having face tattoos or more than one facial piercing. Tongue piercings and “theatrical makeup” are also prohibited.

Starbucks said in April that the new dress code would make employees’ green aprons stand out and create a sense of familiarity for customers. It comes as the company is trying to reestablish a warmer, more welcoming experience in its stores.

Before the new dress code went into effect, Starbucks had a relatively lax policy. In 2016, it began allowing employees to wear patterned shirts in a wider variety of colors to give them more opportunities for self-expression.

The old dress code was also loosely enforced, according to the Colorado lawsuit. But under the new dress code, employees who don’t comply aren’t allowed to start their shifts.

Brooke Allen, a full-time student who also works at a Starbucks in Davis, California, said she was told by a manager in July that the Crocs she was wearing didn’t meet the new standards and she would have to wear different shoes if she wanted to work the following day. Allen had to go to three stores to find a compliant pair that cost her $60.09.

Allen has spent an additional $86.95 on clothes for work, including black shirts and jeans.

“I think it’s extremely tone deaf on the company’s part to expect their employees to completely redesign their wardrobe without any compensation,” Allen said. “A lot of us are already living paycheck to paycheck.”

Allen said she misses the old dress code, which allowed her to express herself with colorful shirts and three facial piercings.

“It looks sad now that everyone is wearing black,” she said.

The lawsuits and complaints filed Wednesday allege that Starbucks’ dress code violates state laws that require companies to reimburse workers for expenses that primarily benefit the employer. Colorado law also prohibits employers from imposing expenses on workers without their written consent, according to that lawsuit. The plaintiffs seek damages on behalf of all Starbucks workers in those states, whether or not their stores are unionized.

Multiple plaintiffs, like Allen, said they requested reimbursement from Starbucks to conform to the dress code but were denied. Gilbert Cruz, an employee in Aurora, Illinois, requested $10 for the cost of removing a nose piercing.

Worker-led lawsuits in state courts are a shift in tactics in the multi-year effort to unionize Starbucks’ stores.

Starbucks Workers United, the labor group that has unionized 640 of Starbucks’ 10,000 company-owned U.S. stores, has filed hundreds of unfair labor practice charges against Starbucks with the National Labor Relations Board. The union filed an charge over the dress code in April.

But the board’s ability to hear cases has been curtailed under President Donald Trump. Trump fired an NLRB member in the spring, leaving the board without the quorum it needs to decide cases.

Musician Bob Dylan, famously from Minnesota, has been added to the lineup for Farm Aid’s upcoming 40th anniversary show Sept. 20 at the University of Minnesota’s Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Dylan is central to Farm Aid lore but very rarely performs at the event: The origin of Farm Aid was sparked by an onstage comment Dylan had made in 1985, Farm Aid organizer Willie Nelson has said. Dylan performed at the inaugural Farm Aid in 1985 and via satellite for the 1986 concert but had not appeared on the Farm Aid stage again till a surprise appearance in 2023.

Dylan, 84, and Nelson, 92, have been on the road jointly in recent years with the Outlaw Music Festival, which stopped at the Somerset Amphitheater last fall, and Dylan played a small show in Mankato in the spring. But the “Like a Rolling Stone” singer has not visited the Twin Cities since a memorable Xcel Energy Center show in 2017.

This year’s Farm Aid show is the first time the touring benefit concert has visited Minnesota, though the show was nearly derailed by a Teamsters strike at the University of Minnesota. Farm Aid expressed support for the striking union workers, who ultimately reached an agreement with the university to end the strike last weekend.

With the exception of a break in 2020 and 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, Dylan has been consistently playing about 100 shows a year since 1988, as part of his so-called Never Ending Tour.

Tickets to the all-day Farm Aid concert are still available online at farmaid40.org. The final five hours of the event, from 6 to 11 p.m., will also be broadcast live on CNN.

A full performance schedule has not been released, so it is unknown when Dylan will perform, but given his stature, it’s likely he’ll take the stage among other headliners later in the evening.

Other musicians in the lineup include Nelson, Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds, Margo Price, Kenny Chesney, Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, Lukas Nelson, Trampled by Turtles, Wynonna Judd, Steve Earle, Waxahatchee, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Jesse Welles, Madeline Edwards and Wisdom Indian Dancers.

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When the 2026 World Junior Hockey Championship comes to the Twin Cities in December, not many will know that more than 50 years ago, a diminutive former Gophers hockey player was a catalyst in the establishment of the tournament that now garners worldwide media attention.

Murray Williamson died this week at age 92 after dealing with an illness for the past several weeks. Originally from Winnipeg, he first came to Minnesota to play for the Gophers in 1956, and he coached the 1972 U.S. Olympic team to a silver medal in Sapporo, Japan.

“Murray was truly a legend. As a player, I believe he was an All-American, but what he did after, he gave back so much to USA Hockey and the growth and development of our sport,” Gophers men’s hockey coach Bob Motzko said. “He was a true icon, and we lost one of the all-time greats that found his way to our campus and never left.”

As recently as July, Motzko and Williamson spent time together in Minneapolis, promoting the coming World Juniors, which will be played in the Twin Cities for just the second time in its half-century of history.

After his turn as the Olympic coach, Williamson wanted more opportunities for American players to continue in the game after high school. Despite some initial push-back from the NCAA and others, he worked to grow junior hockey leagues and what eventually became the World Juniors.

From a family of humble means when he came to Minnesota for college, he also got into the lodging business and at one point owned seven hotels in Minnesota and Florida.

Part of his success in coaching and in business stemmed from a naturally extroverted personality.

“He used to drive me crazy whenever we went somewhere, whether it was the golf course or a restaurant or the hockey rink; he would talk to anybody and everybody,” said former Gophers forward Dean Williamson, one of Murray’s three sons. “Even in the hospital, whether it was the nurse or the person delivering his food, he would strike up a conversation and ask where they were going to school, what they were studying, whatever. It was amazing how he always had a crowd around him.”

The family’s foray into hotels came after Williamson and a few friends started a summer hockey camp in Bemidji, and parents from the Twin Cities bringing their children to the camp complained about a dearth of available lodging.

The author of several books about hockey in the U.S., Williamson is survived by his three children, seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. He and his second wife, Patricia, were married for more than 30 years. Williamson’s granddaughter Taylor was the 2015 Minnesota Ms. Hockey winner at Edina and played for the Gophers, as well.

Plans for a celebration of life and funeral are pending.

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As some major retailers exit St. Paul neighborhoods, the Sun Ray Shopping Center is poised to welcome a new big box retailer this fall.

Known for its discounted apparel and home decor, Burlington will open a new storefront at the Sun Ray Shopping Center in St. Paul on Nov. 1, according to the retailer.

“Burlington will occupy a 20,206-square-foot space at the west end of the center,” said Maria Pace, a spokesperson for Brixmor Property Group, which owns and operates the shopping center at 2089 Old Hudson Road.

Less than a mile from 3M headquarters, Sun Ray Shopping Center also recently welcomed Ross Dress for Less, the largest off-price apparel and home fashion chain in the nation, and Five Below, which sell collectibles, candy and room décor.

“The addition of Burlington builds on strong leasing momentum at Sun Ray, following the openings of Ross Dress for Less and Five Below last year,” Pace said in a statement.

Sun Ray, constructed in 1956, recently received upgrades including new pylon signage. (Courtesy of Brixmor Property Group)

The shopping mall also received upgrades including “refreshed facades” and new pylon signage that enhances the mall’s visibility with over 93,000 vehicles passing it daily along Interstate 94, Pace said.

Brixmor Property Group owns and operates approximately 360 retail centers across the country including the Roseville Center at the corner of Larpenteur and Lexington avenues, Southport Centre I-VI in Apple Valley, Richfield Hub and White Bear Hills Shopping Center.

The Sun Ray Shopping Center, which spans nearly 291,000 square feet, is over 80% leased, according to Brixmor records. The roughly 10 available spaces at Sun Ray range from 425-square-feet to 11,749-square-feet.

Built by construction and realty firm Kraus-Anderson in 1956, Sun Ray is now anchored by Cub Foods and home to a Dollar Tree, Planet Fitness, Jimmy John’s and Sally Beauty Supply, to name a few.

Formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, the New Jersey-based retailer operates more than 1,100 stores across 46 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Other Burlington locations in the east metro include Roseville, West St. Paul, Apple Valley and Oakdale.

Burlington’s total sales for the second quarter, which ended Aug. 2,  increased 10% compared to the same period last year, totaling $2.7 billion, according to a recent news release from the retailer. Comparable store sales increased 5% compared to last year’s second quarter.

For the first six months of Fiscal Year 2025, total sales were up 8% compared to last year and net income increased 28% compared to the same period, the release states.

Burlington is currently hiring for the new store.

Midway woes

Burlington’s new storefront, found at the corner of Pedersen Street and Old Hudson Road, was previously leased by TJ Maxx, “which exited at the end of its lease term in 2023,” Pace said.

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Around the same time, TJ Maxx also exited its St. Paul Midway location after 10 years on University Avenue.

Today, St. Paul is without a TJ Maxx, but shoppers don’t have to travel far because shortly after the Sun Ray location closed, a new storefront opened in Woodbury’s Tamarack Village.

Losing TJ Maxx was the tip of the iceberg for St. Paul’s Midway, which lost a longtime grocer just last month and saw the demolition of its 25-year-old McDonald’s earlier this year.

Cub Foods, which opened in the Midway Marketplace in 1995, closed its doors at the end of August and laid off nearly 100 workers. Weeks before the closing announcement, blame fell on the store’s lack of shopping carts, the closure of self-checkout lanes and a visible rise in shoplifting and petty crime.

Located at University and Hamline avenues, the 324,000-square-feet Midway Marketplace was bought by Kraus-Anderson for $31 million in 2019.