Home Depot’s store at the Quarry in Minneapolis violated federal law when it prohibited an employee from wearing a “Black Lives Matter” insignia on their apron, the National Labor Relations Board ruled yesterday.

Antonio Morales, a Home Depot employee who had written the letters “BLM” on their orange work apron, resigned in February 2021 after store management told them they needed to remove the acronym in accordance with the company’s dress code. Morales uses they/them pronouns.

Other employees had also written the letters on their apron, though they had removed them when asked by management, according to the NLRB’s narrative of events.

The NLRB ruled that Home Depot violated the National Labor Relations Act by “directing Morales to remove the BLM marking, by applying its dress code and apron policy to prohibit Morales from wearing the BLM marking, and by constructively discharging Morales for declining to remove it.”

According to the NLRB, store management began discussing the BLM letters on Morales’ apron after the employee had asked for a “wider discussion” about racial discrimination in the workplace. That came after an employee-created Black History Month display and posters in the breakroom were vandalized twice, and after Morales had observed “racially discriminatory behavior” from another flooring department employee.

Management had said nothing about the BLM marking on Morales’ apron for five months beforehand, the NLRB said.

The store manager told Morales that “the BLM initials were contrary to the dress code and apron policy’s ban on ‘displaying [on an apron] causes or political messages unrelated to workplace matters.’” The manager went on to say that if Morales were allowed to continue wearing the BLM insignia, he would have to let other employees wear swastikas, according to the NLRB.

“Morales objected to this comparison, explaining that BLM could not be compared to a swastika,” the NLRB said.

The next day, Morales had a video meeting with Home Depot’s district manager and district HR manager, where the employee detailed prejudiced behavior from the other flooring department employee. The conversation then turned to Morales’ BLM letters. The two managers acknowledged that they had “failed” Morales, but reaffirmed that the letters violated dress code. The employee was told that if they continue to wear the BLM letters, they could no longer work at Home Depot.

Morales went on to resign from Home Depot the next day.

The NLRB ruled that Morales’ refusal to remove the BLM letters was “protected concerted activity,” which marked a partial reversal from an administrative judge’s ruling in 2022. At the time, the administrative law judge, Paul Bogas, ruled that the employee’s behavior was not “concerted.”

“We disagree with this finding,” the NLRB said in yesterday’s ruling. “The judge erred insofar as he required proof that other employees authorized or endorsed Morales’ placing of the BLM marking on the apron. … The record here plainly shows the existence of a group complaint about working conditions.”

The NLRB ordered Home Depot to offer Morales “full reinstatement” to their former job and to provide compensation “for any loss of earnings and other benefits suffered as a result of their unlawful constructive discharge.”

In a news release about the ruling, NLRB Chairman Lauren McFerran said “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. It is equally clear that an employee who acts individually to support a group protest regarding a workplace issue remains protected under the law.”

A spokesperson for Georgia-based Home Depot said that the company disagrees with the board’s decision.

“The Home Depot is fully committed to diversity and respect for all people,” the spokesperson said. “We don’t tolerate any kind of workplace harassment or discrimination.”