NLRB judge rules Fred Meyer, QFC unlawfully barred BLM insignia in workplace

Fred Meyer Stores and Quality Food Centers (QFC), subsidiaries of The Kroger Co., violated federal labor law by barring employees from wearing Black Lives Matter (BLM) emblems and sending home several workers who refused to remove them, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge ruled.

Under the decision by Judge Mara-Louise Anzalone, announced Friday by the NLRB, Fred Meyer and QFC were ordered to rescind and revise their dress code policies and rules prohibiting the display of protected insignia, as well as to inform employees of the changes.

The Kroger Co. and its Fred Meyer/QFC division couldn’t immediately be reached by Winsight Grocery Business for comment on the NLRB judge’s ruling.

According to the NLRB, the dispute began in the summer of 2020—in the wake of the May 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis—when employees at three Fred Meyer stores (in Bellingham, Burien and Seattle, Washington) and two QFC stores (both in Seattle) started wearing BLM pins and face masks. Though workers had previously worn other pins and masks with LGBTQ messages, pronouns, inspirational messages and sports team insignia without consequence, Fred Meyer and QFC supervisors ordered employees to take off the BLM pins and masks—citing company policy—and sent home non-complying workers early without pay.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21, which had provided the buttons, in September 2020 filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB. The board’s Northwest Region 19 office then issued a complaint claiming that Fred Meyer and QFC violated the National Labor Relations Act by interfering with protected activity and failing to bargain with the union representing the workers, UFCW Local 21. In September 2021, NLRB Region 19 ruled in favor of the affected grocery store workers but, after no settlement was reached in the case, the matter went to trial in March 2022 before Administrative Law Judge Anzalone. She ruled in a May 3 order that the wearing of BLM insignia constituted protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act.

“I find that, by collectively displaying the ‘Black Lives Matter’ message on their work uniforms, the employees in this case acted to advance their interest—as employees—to an affirmatively anti-racist, pro-civil rights and pro-justice workplace,” Judge Anzalone stated in her decision.

The NLRB said Judge Anzalone ordered Fred Meyer and QFC to revise and rescind their dress code polices and rules prohibiting the display of protected insignia, advise employees in writing that the rules were modified, make restitution to workers who were unlawfully sent home, and post notices of employees’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

“As Judge Anzalone acknowledged, workers have the right to advocate collectively for a more equitable workplace, and it is unlawful for employers to prohibit them from doing so or retaliate against them for doing so,” stated NLRB Region 19 Region Director Ronald Hooks.

UFCW Local 21 merged with UFCW Local 1439 in February 2022 to form UFCW Local 3000.

“We knew all along we had the right to call out social and racial injustice in the workplace and in our neighborhoods, and this judge’s decision reiterates that right,” Sam Dancy, a front-end supervisor at the Westwood Village QFC in West Seattle, and a more than 30-year QFC employee, said in a statement.

The administrative law judge ruling has been transferred to the board of the NLRB, and the filing deadline for exceptions to the decision is May 31. NLRB administrative law judge decisions are reviewed by the board, and all parties can file exceptions to appeal. Board decisions, in turn, can be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.