On January 23, 2023, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled that a group of former employees had not shown that a grocery store chain unlawfully retaliated against them for opposing a dress code policy that prohibited the wearing of facemasks with “Black Lives Matter” messaging.
In the case, Kinzer v. Whole Foods Market, Inc., U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs granted summary judgment to the company finding “that no reasonable jury could conclude by a preponderance of the evidence” that the reasons for discharging the employees “were pretextual and motivated by discriminatory animus.”
Three former employees raised retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, alleging they were wrongfully discharged for opposing the company’s allegedly discriminatory dress code policy, which prohibits employees from wearing clothing with “any visible slogan, message, logo or advertising,” unless it was branded with the company logo. The employees—who were all discharged after repeatedly refusing to stop wearing facemasks that violated the dress code—alleged that the policy had not been consistently applied and was applied more harshly to them because their masks displayed “Black Lives Matter” messages.
However, the judge sided with the company, finding “there is little evidence in the record to refute” the company’s “legitimate business explanations for its strict enforcement of its dress code policy against the wearing of Black Lives Matter masks and its...
US President Donald Trump can shock people. And he did just that eleven minutes into his 40-minute address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday (September 22). “Will a deal be ...