The board ruled on Friday that because workers who donned the BLM shirts, face masks, and other apparel were not in protest of their own working conditions, the Amazon grocery chain held the right to bar their conduct and discipline workers for failure to comply.

This case came to prominence after the Black Lives Matter movement, which gained national attention in 2020 following protests in response to the death of George Floyd. However, Whole Foods adopted a dress code in 2013, as part of a settlement of a separate board case.

The dress code required employees to wear company-issued shirts without visible slogans, logos, or advertising.

This is not the first instance of the National Labor Relations Board rulings regarding BLM branding on workers' uniforms, as a similar case in 2024 was centered around a Minnesota Home Depot store preventing its employees from writing “BLM” on their orange aprons.

While the board ruled against Home Depot initially, the decision was ultimately overturned in November 2025, saying that the policy was justified by the company's need to protect its reputation and the safety of employees and customers.