'We failed you' | Home Depot broke law by forcing employees to remove 'Black Lives Matter' initials from uniform

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled Home Depot broke the law by asking employees to remove “Black Lives Matter” writing from their uniform, with an employee who refused to remove the initials subject to unlawful constructive dismissal.

Amid the wave of Black Lives Matter protests that followed the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 by officers of the Minneapolis Police Department, several employees at a Home Depot Store in New Brighton, a suburb of Minneapolis, wrote the letters BLM on their uniform.

A store manager asked the workers to remove the logo from their uniform, citing Home Depot store policy that “displaying [on an apron] causes or political messages unrelated to workplace matters.

The rights of employees to wear items including buttons, pins, and other items displaying a message relating to “terms and conditions of employment, unionization, and other protected matters” is protected under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.