Caribou coffee shops: Who's the boss?

Caribou store managers say they were more like working stiffs and are suing the company for overtime pay.

By H.J. Cummins, Star Tribune

Nathan Nerland is one of 300 current and former Caribou store managers who say they were more barista than boss at the Minnesota-based chain of coffee shops.

That means they're entitled to overtime pay for all the extra hours they put in, they claim in a lawsuit they've been pursuing against the company since the spring of 2005.

Not so fast, says Caribou, which has grown from its first Twin Cities shop in 1992 to about 400 in 16 states and the District of Columbia. These people were bona fide managers, and therefore not entitled to the money, the company argues.

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