By Jason Albright, J.D.
The charging party and former employee testified that he wrote “BLM” in black marker on the front of his apron “as a symbol of solidarity” against “prejudice and racism.”
The NLRB erred in finding that a former employee of a Home Depot store in a suburb of Minneapolis engaged in protected concerted activity, and was unlawfully constructively discharged for it, when he refused to remove his display of “BLM” on his apron, the Eighth Circuit held. Noting that the company’s action was taken “in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis following civil unrest that directly affected this particular store, and the more general divisive societal responses to the Black Lives Matter (‘BLM’) movement,” the appeals court found that there were “special circumstances [that] justify a prohibition on wearing” this kind of message in a customer-facing job at that location and time (Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. v. NLRB, Nos. 24-1406 and 24-1513 (8th Cir. Nov. 6, 2025)).
Customizable apron. Part of Home Depot’s required employee uniform, said the court, is its “signature” orange apron, “featuring a well-recognized Home Depot insignia.” Home Depot allows, and indeed encourages, employees to “customize” their aprons with personalized pins, illustrations, and written messages that will appear along with the Home Depot insignia.
Dress code. Home Depot’s dress code policies state in four sections that the display of “causes or political messages unrelated to the...
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