NLRB rules employee’s ‘Black Lives Matter’ action at Home Depot was protected

The NLRB on Wednesday issued a decision in Home Depot USA, Inc., holding that an employer violated the National Labor Relations Act when it discharged an employee for refusing to remove the hand-drawn letters “BLM” – the acronym for “Black Lives Matter” – from their work apron. Several other employees at the same store also displayed “BLM” markings on their work aprons at about the same time. Applying existing precedent, the Board reasoned that the employee’s refusal to remove the BLM marking was “concerted” because it was a “logical outgrowth” of prior concerted employee protests about racial discrimination in their workplace and because it was an attempt to bring those group complaints to the attention of Home Depot managers. The employee’s conduct was also “for mutual aid or protection” because the issue of racial discrimination involved employees’ working conditions. “It is well-established that workers have the right to join together to improve their working conditions – including by protesting racial discrimination in the workplace,” said Chairman Lauren McFerran. “It is equally clear that an employee who acts individually to support a group protest regarding a workplace issue remains protected under the law.”