Judge dismisses complaint from Home Depot employees who alleged the company violated workers' rights by prohibiting them from wearing Black Lives Matter imagery

Home Depot tour — Mary Meisenzahl/Insider

A judge on Friday ruled to dismiss a complaint that Home Depot violated workers' rights.
Staffers alleged the company threatened and retaliated against them for wearing Black Lives Matter imagery.
The employees added BLM logos to aprons that are part of their uniforms, according to the complaint.

A judge on Friday ruled to dismiss a complaint from Home Depot employees who claimed the company violated workers' rights by prohibiting them from wearing Black Lives Matter imagery on the job.

In the complaint, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) claimed Home Depot violated federal labor law by barring employees from placing BLM logos on their aprons. The company gave staffers an ultimatum to either remove the messaging or quit.

The NLRB complaint further alleged that the retailer threatened and retaliated against employees for participating in the collective action, including a Minneapolis staffer who said he was suspended after wearing the logo on his apron and encouraging colleagues to join him.

"Issues of racial harassment directly impact the working conditions of employees," Jennifer Hadsall, NLRB's regional director in Minneapolis, said in a statement in August 2021. "The NLRA protects employees' rights to raise these issues with the goal of improving their working conditions."

Administrative law judge Paul Bogas wrote in his ruling on Friday that BLM messaging did not have "an objective, and sufficiently direct, relationship to terms and conditions of employment," as first reported by Bloomberg.

He continued: "[The messaging] originated, and is primarily used, to address the unjustified killings of Black individuals by law enforcement and vigilantes. To the extent the message is being used for reasons beyond that, it operates as a political umbrella for societal concerns and relates to the workplace only in the sense that workplaces are part of society."

Representatives for Home Depot and the NLRB did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request to comment on the ruling.

A spokeswoman for Home Depot previously told Insider in August 2021 that the allegation "misrepresents the relevant facts."

"The Home Depot does not tolerate workplace harassment of any kind and takes all reports of discrimination or harassment seriously, as we did in this case," the spokeswoman said. "We disagree with the characterization of this situation and look forward to sharing the facts during the NLRB's process."

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