Over a dozen workers at Whole Foods stores in four states claim in a class-action lawsuit that the company retaliated against them for wearing the movement’s apparel.
From colorful patterns and vegetable prints to SpongeBob SquarePants, creative masks have been embraced by Whole Foods employees across the country since the pandemic began.
But according to 14 employees at Whole Foods stores in California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Washington State, the company drew the line at Black Lives Matter masks, apparel and pins. The workers were sent home without pay, subjected to “corrective” discipline and threatened with the loss of their jobs for refusing to remove the items, a class-action lawsuit filed on Monday in Federal District Court in Massachusetts said.
