Home Depot forced a worker to quit after wearing a slogan in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on his apron, and the worker threatened to punish other employees who tried to draw attention to racial harassment, according to a complaint from the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Committee.
The federal agency accused the company of discriminating against an employee who worked in a Home Depot store in Minneapolis for wearing the slogan and talking to other store employees and managers about racial harassment.
“Issues with racial harassment have a direct impact on the working conditions of employees,” said Jennifer Hadsall, the regional director of the Minneapolis office of the labor exchange that made the complaint.
The National Labor Relations Act “protects the right of workers to raise these issues in order to improve their working conditions,” she said in a statement from the board. “It is this important right that we want to protect in this case.”
Home Depot said the board’s complaint “misrepresents the relevant facts” and that the company is “fully committed to diversity and respect for all people”.
“Home Depot does not tolerate harassment in the workplace and takes any reports of discrimination or harassment seriously, as we did in this case,” said Sara Gorman, a company spokeswoman, in an email. “We disagree with the characterization of this situation and look forward to sharing the facts during the NLRB process.”
Following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department, companies like Nike, Twitter and Citigroup have joined the Black Lives Matter movement. The public support was a departure from the more cautious stance many companies had taken in the past for fear of taking a political position that could offend customers.
But other companies have dress codes that prohibit employees from displaying unauthorized logos or buttons, or have been accused of punishing those who do so. Whole Foods has been sued by employees who claim they have been fined for wearing clothes that support Black Lives Matter.
In June 2020, Home Depot issued a statement denouncing the deaths of Mr. Floyd and “other unarmed black men and women in our country”.
“We cannot ignore that their deaths are part of a pattern of racism and reflect the harsh reality that we as a nation are far too far from fulfilling the promise of equal justice for all,” said Craig Menear, Home Depot general manager at the time .
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Aug 17, 2021, 2:05 p.m. ET
Home Depot has tried to distance itself from political positions in recent years. In 2019, after a co-founder, Bernie Marcus, expressed his support for President Donald J. Trump, a spokeswoman noted that Mr. Marcus had retired and said that “the company does not support presidential nominations by default.”
According to Ms. Hadsall’s complaint, Home Depot’s dress code forbids employees from putting “reasons or political messages unrelated to workplace matters” on their aprons or work clothes. According to the employment office, the dress code is not illegal.
However, the agency said the company violated the National Labor Relations Act by enforcing the dress code against an employee wearing a Black Lives Matter logo to draw attention to racial discrimination and harassment in business.
The employee’s name was blacked out and the complaint did not contain details of the discrimination he described.
The employee began wearing the Black Lives Matter logo on his apron last August and began talking to employees and managers about “issues such as ongoing discrimination and harassment,” the complaint read.
At some point this year, the company told the employee they no longer had to wear the logo or walk. He refused and was suspended. According to the complaint, the company then repeated its request: stop wearing the logo or stop.
In February, the company threatened employees with “unspecified consequences” if they engage in “protected concerted activities related to racist harassment,” the complaint said.
The threats were made during a meeting in an office in the store and via video call, according to the complaint.
The Minneapolis field office, which reports to the General Counsel of the Labor Office, will take the complaint to an administrative judge in October if Home Depot does not come to an agreement with the employee.
If the judge rules in favor of the employee, Home Depot can appeal to the full board, which is separate from the general counsel’s office and judges cases. If the full board of directors decides against Home Depot, the company can ask the appeals court to handle the case.
