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Incident 10: Kronos Scheduling Algorithm Allegedly Caused Financial Issues for Starbucks Employees

Description: Kronos’s scheduling algorithm and its use by Starbucks managers allegedly negatively impacted financial and scheduling stability for Starbucks employees, which disadvantaged wage workers.

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Alleged: Kronos developed an AI system deployed by Starbucks, which harmed Starbucks employees.

Incident Stats

Incident ID
10
Report Count
10
Incident Date
2014-08-14
Editors
Sean McGregor, Khoa Lam
Applied Taxonomies
CSETv0, GMF, CSETv1, MIT

CSETv0 Taxonomy Classifications

Taxonomy Details

Public Sector Deployment

"Yes" if the AI system(s) involved in the accident were being used by the public sector or for the administration of public goods (for example, public transportation). "No" if the system(s) were being used in the private sector or for commercial purposes (for example, a ride-sharing company), on the other.
 

No

Infrastructure Sectors

Where applicable, this field indicates if the incident caused harm to any of the economic sectors designated by the U.S. government as critical infrastructure.
 

Food and agriculture

Lives Lost

Were human lives lost as a result of the incident?
 

No

Intent

Was the incident an accident, intentional, or is the intent unclear?
 

Unclear

Near Miss

Was harm caused, or was it a near miss?
 

Unclear/unknown

Ending Date

The date the incident ended.
 

2015-01-01

GMF Taxonomy Classifications

Taxonomy Details

Potential AI Technology Snippets

One or more snippets that justify the classification.
 

(Snippet Text: “You’re waiting on your job to control your life,” she said, with the scheduling software used by her employer dictating everything from “how much sleep Gavin will get to what groceries I’ll be able to buy this month.”, Related Classifications: Regression), (Snippet Text: In a follow-up piece, the author, Jodi Kantor, points directly to Kronos' scheduling software as the root of the problem., Related Classifications: Diverse Data)

CSETv1 Taxonomy Classifications

Taxonomy Details

Incident Number

The number of the incident in the AI Incident Database.
 

10

Special Interest Intangible Harm

An assessment of whether a special interest intangible harm occurred. This assessment does not consider the context of the intangible harm, if an AI was involved, or if there is characterizable class or subgroup of harmed entities. It is also not assessing if an intangible harm occurred. It is only asking if a special interest intangible harm occurred.
 

no

Date of Incident Year

The year in which the incident occurred. If there are multiple harms or occurrences of the incident, list the earliest. If a precise date is unavailable, but the available sources provide a basis for estimating the year, estimate. Otherwise, leave blank. Enter in the format of YYYY
 

2014

Estimated Date

“Yes” if the data was estimated. “No” otherwise.
 

Yes

Multiple AI Interaction

“Yes” if two or more independently operating AI systems were involved. “No” otherwise.
 

no

Embedded

“Yes” if the AI is embedded in a physical system. “No” if it is not. “Maybe” if it is unclear.
 

no

MIT Taxonomy Classifications

Machine-Classified
Taxonomy Details

Risk Subdomain

A further 23 subdomains create an accessible and understandable classification of hazards and harms associated with AI
 

5.2. Loss of human agency and autonomy

Risk Domain

The Domain Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies risks into seven AI risk domains: (1) Discrimination & toxicity, (2) Privacy & security, (3) Misinformation, (4) Malicious actors & misuse, (5) Human-computer interaction, (6) Socioeconomic & environmental harms, and (7) AI system safety, failures & limitations.
 
  1. Human-Computer Interaction

Entity

Which, if any, entity is presented as the main cause of the risk
 

AI

Timing

The stage in the AI lifecycle at which the risk is presented as occurring
 

Post-deployment

Intent

Whether the risk is presented as occurring as an expected or unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
 

Unintentional

Incident Reports

Reports Timeline

+1
Working Anything but 9 to 5
For some Starbucks workers, job leaves bitter tasteAfter A Wave Of Bad Press, This Controversial Software Company Is Making Changes+1
Kronos shift scheduling software a grind for Starbucks worker
+1
​Is Starbucks shortchanging its baristas?
"I Hope That Howard Schultz Hears My Story": A Starbucks Barista on Why He's Fighting for Fair SchedulingHow Starbucks started taking their schedules seriously…and why you should tooThe Seattle Times: Starbucks says its scheduling practices have improved
Working Anything but 9 to 5

Working Anything but 9 to 5

nytimes.com

For some Starbucks workers, job leaves bitter taste

For some Starbucks workers, job leaves bitter taste

cbsnews.com

After A Wave Of Bad Press, This Controversial Software Company Is Making Changes

After A Wave Of Bad Press, This Controversial Software Company Is Making Changes

buzzfeednews.com

Kronos shift scheduling software a grind for Starbucks worker

Kronos shift scheduling software a grind for Starbucks worker

searchhrsoftware.techtarget.com

THE GRIND: Striving for Scheduling Fairness at Starbucks

THE GRIND: Striving for Scheduling Fairness at Starbucks

populardemocracy.org

​Is Starbucks shortchanging its baristas?

​Is Starbucks shortchanging its baristas?

cbsnews.com

Starbucks vows to do more to ease barista schedules

Starbucks vows to do more to ease barista schedules

money.cnn.com

"I Hope That Howard Schultz Hears My Story": A Starbucks Barista on Why He's Fighting for Fair Scheduling

"I Hope That Howard Schultz Hears My Story": A Starbucks Barista on Why He's Fighting for Fair Scheduling

thestranger.com

How Starbucks started taking their schedules seriously…and why you should too

How Starbucks started taking their schedules seriously…and why you should too

quinyx.com

The Seattle Times: Starbucks says its scheduling practices have improved

The Seattle Times: Starbucks says its scheduling practices have improved

fairworkweek.org

Working Anything but 9 to 5
nytimes.com · 2014

SAN DIEGO — In a typical last-minute scramble, Jannette Navarro, a 22-year-old Starbucks barista and single mother, scraped together a plan for surviving the month of July without setting off family or financial disaster.

In contrast to the…

For some Starbucks workers, job leaves bitter taste
cbsnews.com · 2014

Liberte Locke, a 32-year-old "barista" at a Starbucks (SBUX) in New York City, is fed up.

"Starbucks' attitude is that there's always someone else who can do the job," she said in running through her complaints about life at the java giant.…

After A Wave Of Bad Press, This Controversial Software Company Is Making Changes
buzzfeednews.com · 2015

In April, the New York attorney general's office launched an investigation into the scheduling practices of 13 national retail chains, distributing a letter to the Gap, Target, J.C. Penney, and 10 other companies. The letter asked, among ot…

Kronos shift scheduling software a grind for Starbucks worker
searchhrsoftware.techtarget.com · 2015

Caitlin O'Reilly-Green, a barista at an Atlanta Starbucks, says a manager blames her erratic hours on the staff scheduling software used by the giant coffee chain.

"When you try to bring up issues with it, they just kind of blame it on the …

THE GRIND: Striving for Scheduling Fairness at Starbucks
populardemocracy.org · 2015

A 2015 nationwide survey of Starbucks workers reveals that the company is not living up to its commitment to provide predictable, sustainable schedules to its workforce. Starbucks’ frontline employees bear the brunt of the management impera…

​Is Starbucks shortchanging its baristas?
cbsnews.com · 2015

For Starbucks (SBUX) barista Kylei Weisse, working at the coffee chain helps him secure health insurance and some extra money while he studies at Georgia Perimeter College. What it doesn't provide is the kind of stable schedule that the com…

Starbucks vows to do more to ease barista schedules
money.cnn.com · 2015

An internal memo from a Starbucks executive this week urged store managers to "go the extra mile" to improve workers' schedules.

The letter was distributed on Tuesday and refers to a New York Times story that was set to be published the fol…

"I Hope That Howard Schultz Hears My Story": A Starbucks Barista on Why He's Fighting for Fair Scheduling
thestranger.com · 2015

On Tuesday, I wrote about Starbucks baristas and other food service workers who marched downtown at sunrise to call for fair scheduling from their employers. Workers said they often get little notice of when they're scheduled to work and th…

How Starbucks started taking their schedules seriously…and why you should too
quinyx.com · 2016

The best schedules deliver two things; they ensure a business maximises profit while at the same time keeping the workforce happy and motivated.

At first glance, these two outcomes seem to be coming from opposite sides of the spectrum. To m…

The Seattle Times: Starbucks says its scheduling practices have improved
fairworkweek.org · 2016

Originally published on Seattle Times on June 4, 2016 at 8:00 am

The company took a lot of heat in 2014 when The New York Times described scheduling practices that made some employees miserable. But the coffee giant says its policies and so…

Variants

A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.

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