Home Depot employees are not allowed to wear Black Lives Matter goods or images while at work, a federal judge has ruled.
In a ruling Friday, Administrative Judge Paul Bogas dismissed a complaint from the U.S. National Labor Council that a home improvement retailer had violated employees’ rights by banning them from displaying BLM equipment, Bloomberg News reported.
Bogas writes that the nickname BLM lacks “an objective and sufficiently direct connection with working conditions”.
The BLM message “originated and is used primarily to tackle the unjustified killings of black people by law enforcement,” he wrote.
“Insofar as the communication is used for reasons other than that, it acts as a political umbrella for social problems and is related to the workplace only in the sense that the jobs are part of society,” the judge said.
The U.S. National Labor Council said Home Depot violated employees’ rights by banning them from displaying BLM equipment. Godofredo A. Vasquez / Pool / AFP via Getty Images The judge ruled that the pseudonym BLM lacks “an objective and sufficiently direct link to working and working conditions.” Stefan Jeremiah The complaint originally came from the U.S. National Labor Council, which can appeal the decision. Stephen Senne / AP
The Labor Council has the right to appeal the decision, Bloomberg said.
The Atlanta-based retailer is not the only one quoted for a BLM-related speech.
The NLRB’s chief adviser also filed a complaint against the Whole Foods Market on similar grounds, alleging that the trader’s ban on food for signs or goods worn by employees violates their rights.
The NLRB’s chief legal counsel also complained that the Whole Foods Market’s ban on labels or goods worn by employees violated their rights. Jonathan Drake / Reuters
This case is part of the ongoing discussions of a judge in San Francisco.
A Home Depot spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post on Sunday.
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