Walmart Gets Green Light to Restrict Union Buttons at Work (2)

Employers can more easily restrict workers from wearing union buttons and other insignia under a National Labor Relations Board ruling released Dec. 23.

The NLRB held that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. policies that say workers can only wear “small, non-distracting” insignia no larger than the size of employee name badges are lawful. That’s because the business’ goals in maintaining the practice—enhancing the customer shopping experience and protecting merchandise from theft—outweigh any potential harmful impacts on workers’ rights to organize and unionize, the board said.

An identical policy applied to areas outside of the “selling floor”—where employees don’t encounter customers—is unlawful, the ...