Whole Foods Wants To Ban Employees Who Wear ‘Black Lives Matter’ Masks


Whole Foods says that it has the constitutional right to ban its employees from wearing “Black Lives Matter” masks while on the job, Bloomberg reports.

The business says that a federal labor board will effectively violate the First Amendment if it attempts to force the company to allow the polarizing message on employee masks.

What are the details?

National Labor Relations Board general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo filed a complaint in November that the company infringed on federal law by enforcing a workplace dress code that banned “Black Lives Matter” masks. The board’s complaint alleged that the company illegally prevented several of its employees from displaying “Black Lives Matter” logos on masks and apparel and punished those who flouted the company-wide regulation.

The complaint, according to reports, alleged that Whole Foods prevented its employees from engaging in “concerted activities for their mutual aid and protection.”

In a Dec. 17 filing, Whole Foods stated that National Labor Relations Board general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo attempted to “compel” speech, violating the First Amendment and “unlawfully infringing upon and/or diluting [Whole Foods’] protected trademarks” by attempting to force the company to permit political messages through its uniforms.

The company argued in its filing that the National Labor Relations Act does not offer protection for “political and/or social justice speech.”

“Whole Foods contends that Section 7 of the NLRA, which protects employees’ right to take collective action related to working conditions, doesn’t extend to workers’ BLM messages, which it calls ‘political and/or social justice speech,'” Bloomberg’s report added. “The company’s filing argues that ‘BLM’ and related phrases ‘are not objectively understood to relate to workplace issues or improving working conditions at WFM’s retail grocery stores’ or employment terms and conditions in general.

“Employees do not have a protected right under Section 7 of the Act to display the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ or ‘BLM’ in the workplace,” the company’s attorneys wrote in the filing.

The complaint and response are set for a March trial.

A spokesperson for the Amazon-owned chain grocery store told the New York Post that the company dress code “bans any visible slogans or logos that aren’t company-related and does not single out the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.”

“Our dress code policy is designed to ensure we are giving Team Members a workplace and customers a shopping experience focused entirely on excellent service and high-quality food,” the spokesperson said in the company’s statement. “We do not believe we should compromise that experience by introducing any messages on uniforms, regardless of the content, that shift the focus away from our mission.”

A spokesperson for the National Labor Relations Act did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.

Original Article: https://www.theblaze.com/news/whole-foods-argues-it-has-a-constitutional-right-to-ban-its-employees-from-wearing-black-lives-matter-masks

  1. Jay Dee says

    If I am in a Whole Foods and see that mask on an employee, I am out of there and probably won’t go back. That is insulting to their mostly white customers, who for the most part believe ALL lives matter and don’t support the avowed Marxist founders of BLM.

  2. Jan says

    As a black person I AGREE. I hate seeing those masks and T shirts because BLM is not representing most black people. They are divisive and have done NOTHING positive for any community. Would I want to come to the register and see a confederate flag spread across a white person’s face??? NO!

  3. Mike says

    It’s about time a company bans blm matter from pushing a political agenda

  4. Dee says

    You can be assured 100% plus that me and my relatives will NOT shop at ANY store allowing that type of advertised propaganda! EVER!!!!

  5. Bob Farrell says

    Your the Boss, If they refuse your order’s, Fire them. They have no right on your dime to be political.

    1. Leo says

      Especially if you are in a state where a business does not have to state a reason for terminating employees. If I was a supervisor in that situation there would not even be a warning unless the employee was otherwise outstanding and needed.

  6. Wh3r3w0lff3 says

    Great decision! The workplace is no place for political grandstanding, unless you’re a politician. Whole Foods isn’t a political institution, so none of their employees should be displaying anything political…ESPECIALLY
    Loot, and
    Murder paraphernalia.

  7. Speedy says

    On the one side wearing or supporting a communist garbage organization like BLM (who doesn’t care about black live or anyone but themselves) will let you know the intelligence of the person you are addressing. Every one knows all lives matte including the unborn, and the vary old. It shows exactly who the racist are.

  8. Di says

    Agree with the decision and all of the aforementioned comments 100%.

  9. Al says

    The right decision. BLM is divisive, criminal gang that promotes nothing but hate, racism violence.

  10. Jim says

    If they allow BLM they will have to allow the KKK

  11. Anonymous says

    Get rid of them. I will not shop at a store that tries to push their political beliefs on me.

  12. None of your business says

    If Blacks choose to be stooges of Marxism. That’s their choice. Nevertheless- stop the stupidest of victimhood. You blacks- have killed half of your people in the abortion clinics since 1973, your young are 90%+ killed by other young black men, 75% of black homes are fatherless and thanks to LBJ black woman married the government and black men avoid their manly responsibilities. That’s not the white men faults.

  13. Walter E Beverly III says

    The story is INACCURATE! What the company wants to do is ban the wearing of any mask with a political statement. I oppose everything that BLM stands for, but this company is banning the use of political statements while you are on the job. Perfectly legal and appropriate.

  14. Susan says

    BLM is a socialist, communist, Marxist revolutionary movement whose goal is the destruction of America and the White Race.
    It has absolutely no place what-so-ever in any location whether the location is commercial or private. Period .

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