A part-time barista at a Los Angeles Starbucks was violently assaulted after telling a guest they couldn’t use the restroom without first making a purchase, according to court filings reviewed by The Independent.
In a federal lawsuit filed August 17, Aaron Gomez, who worked at a Starbucks near the Los Angeles airport, says he was simply carrying out orders from supervisors when the bathroom-seeker went ballistic on him.
The man first “became verbally aggressive,” quickly escalating to threats of physical harm, Gomez’s complaint states.
He then “charged at” Gomez and “proceeded to… attack him,” the complaint goes on.
“The individual picked up the store's cash register and threw it at [Gomez],” it states. “The individual also picked up a metal cup and threw it at [Gomez], striking him squarely in the chest… The assailant continued to throw drinks from the open refrigerator, opening their caps and hitting [Gomez] with liquids, as well as gift cards and any other loose items that were available to the assailant.”
Fearing for his own safety, Gomez “threw a nearby pitcher of sweet cream at the assailant,” according to the complaint, which says the attacker then fled.
Gomez was later fired for throwing the pitcher, which he claims he did solely in self-defense, the complaint says, adding that he is “currently receiving therapy to address the emotional distress he has suffered as a result.”
Prior to the May 13, 2025, assault, Gomez “had expressed concerns” to his manager about the possible safety risks of enforcing the Starbucks restroom policy, which has been, variously, loosened and tightened throughout the years in an attempt to avoid “disruptive” behavior and safety issues. The most recent Starbucks “Coffeehouse Code of Conduct” specifies that restrooms are for paying customers only. Its position is backed up by the National Retail Federation, which said last year in a statement that businesses have a right to set their own policies on restroom use.
In an email, a Starbucks spokesperson told The Independent, “We are aware of the claims and are reviewing the matter. Because the facts are still being evaluated, we are not in a position to comment further.”
The attorneys representing Gomez declined to comment on the case, citing active litigation.
However, Steven Soifer, who co-founded the American Restroom Association, a nonprofit seeking to open public toilets to all who need them, called the Starbucks bathroom controversy a “never-ending story.”
He told The Independent that while the association “doesn’t condone any sort of violent behavior, the customer was actually in the right in terms of restroom access.”
“Restroom access is a civil rights issue,” Soifer said. “Anyone who is in a store and needs to use the bathroom, should be able to use it.”
While the current Starbucks policy restricts bathroom use to paying guests, Soifer said the reality is that “most Starbucks employees don’t really care.”
“I’ve done it dozens of times, I’ve never been stopped,” Soifer explained. “They’ve actually told us in some correspondence that the policy is pretty loosey-goosey, because they know it's an issue,” he said. If you think about it, if you go to McDonald’s or Dunkin’ Donuts, it’s never an issue.”
Still, Soifer went on, the association has looked into suing Starbucks to ensure wider restroom access but decided it would be cost-prohibitive for his small organization to take on the coffee giant.
In November 2023, Gomez was hired as a barista at a Starbucks in a strip mall on Lincoln Boulevard in the Westchester section of L.A., according to his complaint, which was initially filed May 26 in Los Angeles County Superior Court before being removed to Los Angeles federal court on August 17. It says he started out at $17.50 an hour, later getting a raise to $21.50, and worked between 25 and 35 hours a week.
“Throughout his employment, [Gomez] was a dedicated employee wlio completed his assigned tasks and performed his job duties satisfactorily,” the complaint states.
In it, Gomez says he had previously been pepper-sprayed by an unhappy customer, although it is unclear from the filing if the dust-up was bathroom-related.
However, it contends that Gomez worried that customers would “become aggressive” toward staff charged with imposing the restroom rule, but that his unease was not taken seriously.
According to the complaint, a Starbucks shift lead who witnessed last year’s assault immediately contacted the district manager and asked her to call the police, who “never arrived at the scene.” The store manager ordered the location closed for the remainder of the day, the complaint states.
Gomez submitted an incident report via the Starbucks app, and provided written statements to Starbucks brass, according to the complaint. It says he returned to work the next day and showed management the “dark purple bruises and knot that had formed on his chest from the assault.”
Gomez also requested a copy of the security footage that had captured the assault, but was denied, the complaint alleges. A month later, it says Gomez’s manager told him that the assailant had retained an attorney and was threatening to sue Starbucks, “falsely claiming that [Gomez] had been the aggressor.”
Gomez was suspended and ordered not to contact anyone from the store, the complaint states. He then filed a workers' compensation claim for the injuries he sustained during the assault, according to the complaint.
On June 20, 2025, five weeks after he was attacked and one week after filing for workers’ comp, Gomez was fired for violating “safety and security policies,” the complaint says, specifying that he was told that he should not have thrown the pitcher of cream at his assailant. The manager who watched the assault take place was also terminated, according to the complaint.
Gomez was rightfully defending himself by throwing the pitcher, the complaint argues. At the same time, Soifer of the ARA says the coffeehouse chain’s bathroom policy needs to be relaxed again.
“Starbucks really needs to be called on it,” Soifer told The Independent. “It really isn't okay for them to say no to people who need to use the bathroom… It is a huge issue, and it’s the number one complaint of tourists that come over from Europe, in particular.”
He said he believes things will change “once enough people complain.”
Gomez is now demanding compensatory damages for lost wages, earnings and benefits, as well as damages for, among other things, emotional distress, humiliation, pain and suffering, embarrassment, fear, and anxiety and anguish. He is also seeking punitive damages, plus court costs and attorneys’ fees, plus reinstatement.
In an August 12 answer to the complaint, Starbucks said Gomez was terminated “for a legitimate business reason,” and placed the blame on their former employee and asked that the case be thrown out of court.
A scheduling conference is scheduled to take place October 2 in Los Angeles federal court.
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