Business Briefs – April 27, 2017

Starbucks Customer Traffic Stalls Amid Mobile Order Issues

NEW YORK (AP) – Starbucks sales fell short of Wall Street expectations for its fiscal second quarter. The coffee chain has said the congestion created by mobile order-and-pay has discouraged some customers who walk into stores and leave without buying anything. U.S. sales rose 3 percent at established locations, entirely as a result of a higher average check.

Court: Employers Can Pay Women Less Based on Past Salaries

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A federal appeals court says employers can legally pay women less than men for the same work based on differences in the employees’ previous salaries. The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday overturned a lower-court ruling saying pay differences based exclusively on prior salaries were discriminatory.

Exxon Fined $20 Million for Emissions From Texas Plant

BAYTOWN, Texas (AP) – A judge has ordered Exxon Mobil to pay nearly $20 million for releasing 10 million pounds of pollutants into the air over eight years from a refining and chemical complex it operates east of Houston. U.S. District Judge David Hittner in a ruling Wednesday determined that Texas-based Exxon on thousands of occasions from 2005 to 2013 violated federal clean-air standards.