Home Depot Broke Law By Making Workers Remove 'Black Lives Matter,' NLRB Rules

In a win for social justice advocates in the workplace, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Wednesday that big-box retailer Home Depot broke the law by requiring workers to remove “ Black Lives Matter ” insignia from their uniforms and punishing one for refusing to do so.

The board’s majority wrote in their decision that employees sporting the letters “BLM” on their attire as they pushed management on race issues amounted to “protected concerted activity,” and was therefore shielded by the law. They ordered Home Depot to offer reinstatement and back pay to a worker who’d resigned rather than remove their BLM marking.

The NLRB enforces collective bargaining law on private-sector employers, and its five-member board in Washington serves as a high court for resolving labor disputes. (At the moment, there are only four members.) The BLM ruling falls in line with the board’s more progressive reading of the law under a Democratic majority shaped by President Joe Biden.

The board’s lone Republican member dissented.

According to the NLRB decision, a Home Depot manager had told the workers they had to take off their BLM insignia because it conflicted with the company’s dress code. One employee was told that if they wore “BLM” on their uniforms, then management would have to let others wear swastikas, according to trial testimony.

A Home Depot spokesperson said the company disagrees with the decision.

“The Home Depot is fully committed to diversity and respect for all people. We don’t tolerate any kind of workplace harassment or discrimination,” the spokesperson said.

The company declined to say whether it plans to appeal the ruling to federal court.

The labor board’s decision reversed an earlier ruling by an