Whole Foods says it shouldn’t have to let employees wear the masks along with its trademarked uniform and logos.
Who Foods has a constitutional right to prohibit employees from wearing Black Lives Matter masks at work, the company claims in a December filing with the National Labor Relations Board.
The company denied the agency general counsel’s allegations that the company violated federal labor law by banning employees from wearing the masks and instead said that its own First Amendment rights were being violated, according to a copy of the filing obtained by Bloomberg through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon (AMZN) – Get Amazon.com, Inc. Report, accused the National Labor Relations Board of violating its rights by trying to unconstitutionally “compel” speech by the company.
Black Lives Matter is a political and social movement that has taken up the cause of police brutality.
Whole Foods says that the NLRB is “unlawfully infringing upon and/or diluting WFM’s protected trademarks” by trying to make it display a “political message in conjunction with” its trademarked uniforms and logos.
Political messaging in professional settings is apparently is a hot topic on both sides of the aisle.
Over the weekend a Twitter user, who has since made her account private, took a picture of a pilot who had a luggage sticker that read “Let’s Go, Brandon.”
“Let’s Go, Brandon” is a euphemism for expressing dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden that was popular in 2021.
The woman said that her and other passengers on the plane were “disgusted” while tagging American Airlines in her post.
American Airlines responded to her post.
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we want to get this to the right team,” it read. “Please DM any additional details.”
