Whole Foods says ban on employees wearing BLM logos protected by First Amendment

Whole Foods stated that they believe their First Amendment rights are being violated by the Biden administration's National Labor Relations Board, which filed a complaint against the Amazon-owned company saying that it was in violation of federal law by enforcing a dress code that prohibited political or partisan statements on clothing, according to the New York Post.

General counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, Jennifer Abruzzo, filed the formal complaint in November saying that the company illegally prohibited employees from displaying Black Lives Matter logos on face masks or on their clothing. Abruzzo further claimed that Whole Foods acted improperly in disciplining those employees who refused to comply with the dress code.

Abruzzo's claim in her complaint on behalf of the administration was that Whole Foods was violating the first amendment rights of their employees, but in response Whole Foods alleges that the company's free speech rights are being violated when they are compelled to allow political statements to be permissible under the dress-code.

Whole Foods have filed legal action in turn against Abruzzo and the NLRB. The case will go to trial in March 2022.

They claim that allowing employees to represent Whole Foods while boldly displaying political messages amounts to "compelled speech." In addition, they claim that their brand is diluted by the administration's "trying to mandate that it allow the display of a 'political message in conjunction with' its trademarked uniforms and logos."

In a statement to the New York Post, Whole Foods said that "the 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," a spokesperson told the Post. "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."

Abruzzo, who was confirmed in July 2021 by the Senate, "asserted during a webinar," the Post reports, "that federal labor laws should protect employees who engage in certain political or social justice advocacy in the workplace."

Whole Foods' goal in maintaining a strict dress code is to present a neutral image to their customers. They further claim that they actually support the BLM movement—though they have also publicly condemned the socialism that underpins it.

27 employees of Whole Foods filed a legal action against the company in an effort to get them to change their policy, which currently doesn't allow for "any logos or slogans" of any nature whatsoever  to be displayed by employees while working, according to the Daily Mail. That suit was dismissed by a judge in February 2o21, who stated that Whole Foods' refusal to allow employees to display political messaging at work was not a form of racial discrimination.