Federal Court Sides with Whole Foods in Dress-Code Dispute Over Black Lives Matter Masks

With tensions rising in partisan politics and COVID-era public health, employers often face a quandary: in considering a workplace dress code, how do we balance respect for our employees' self-expression against the risk that an employee's chosen apparel may upset another employee or a customer? A decision, recently issued by the Massachusetts federal district court, reminds employers that one way to successfully strike that balance may be to simply bar outside slogans and logos altogether.

Whole Foods has long maintained a dress code that prohibits clothing with "any visible slogan, message, logo, or advertising" (except, of course, Whole Foods' own logo). In April 2020, as part of its COVID response, Whole Foods began requiring employees to wear face coverings. In the summer that followed, as Black Lives Matter protests swelled, Whole Foods grew stricter in its dress-code enforcement, including by disciplining some employees who wore facemasks that had the words "Black Lives Matter" printed on them.

Those employees sued, arguing that Whole Foods' discipline amounted to racial discrimination. After allowing time for the two sides to develop their factual positions, the Massachusetts court granted Whole Foods' motion for summary judgment, centering its ruling on a key finding: Whole Foods hadn't singled out employees who wore Black Lives Matter masks—the stricter dress-code enforcement...

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