Whole Foods ban on Black Lives Matter apparel was lawful, US labor board rules
AMZN•Board also upheld Whole Foods dress code
The NLRB on Friday also ruled 2-1 that Whole Foods' former dress code, which it had adopted in 2013 as part of a settlement of a separate board case, was not overly broad. That reversed an administrative judge who had said that the policy, which was changed in 2020, was illegal because it did not exactly mirror the language agreed to in the board settlement.
Board member David Prouty, the NLRB's lone Democrat, dissented from that finding. The agreed-to policy read: “You must wear Whole Foods Market shirts/tops ... without any visible slogan, message, logo or advertising printed on them.” But the company ultimately omitted the word "printed," improperly broadening the policy to ban accessories such as pins and buttons, Prouty wrote.
NLRB says Whole Foods could bar BLM apparel
Amazon.com's Whole Foods did not violate U.S. labor law by prohibiting employees from wearing clothing and accessories that said "Black Lives Matter" or "BLM," the National Labor Relations Board has ruled.
