OAN’s Sophia Flores and Tom McGrath
5:41 PM – Thursday, December 21, 2023
A National Labor Relations Board judge has ruled that Whole Foods can ban employee apparel including Black Lives Matter badges.
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This week’s ruling declared such attire is unrelated to job requirements and is therefore subject to the employer’s discretion.
An NLRB general counsel argued that a Whole Foods employee should be entitled to wear BLM insignia in order to make themselves and their co-workers feel safer.
Workers at the grocery store giant began wearing buttons, clothing items and facemasks with BLM messaging in 2020. The movement began in the late spring and summer of that year after the nation went into a frenzy following the death of George Floyd.
Administrative Law Judge Ariel Sotolongo ruled that such apparel failed to advance any goal related to employment at Whole Foods. It was also ruled that wearing BLM messaging violated the company’s employee dress code.
“The fact that BLM may be a movement of great significance to African Americans, and that its goals are valid, does not mean that a rule prohibiting the displaying of such message at work is ‘racist,’ as some employees implied,” he wrote.
The case is not shut, as the general counsel could appeal the ruling to the board in Washington D.C.
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