Fred Meyer Stores, a supermarket chain based in Portland, Ore., illegally disciplined workers for wearing items with the Black Lives Matter logo, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative judge recently ruled.
Prohibiting workers from wearing Black Lives Matter slogans violated the workers' rights to voice their opinions about working conditions, Judge Mara-Louise Anzalone concluded on May 3. She ordered the company to revise its dress code, offer back pay to workers who were sent home due to dress code enforcement, and delete from its records any references to discipline or warnings given to these workers because of dress code enforcement.
In the summer of 2020, the company required employees to remove their buttons, face masks and other attire expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement. A labor union, United Food and Commercial Workers Local No. 21, claimed the company violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by interfering with workers' rights to collectively discuss wages, benefits, terms and conditions of employment. The union said the company illegally changed its dress policy without giving the union the chance to negotiate.
Fred Meyer Stores' written dress code did not allow unauthorized buttons and logos, but it included exceptions for certain holidays, sponsored events, sports gear on game days during football season, and LGBTQ-related buttons during Pride Month. Fred Meyer Stores is a subsidiary of The Kroger Company, a retail...
A woman has been jailed for posting a string of lies on social media about her police officer ex-husband, claiming he was a "rapist" and a "baby killer". Jennifer Pritchard, 47, from Tredegar in B...