Whole Foods Sheds Retaliation Suit by Workers Who Wore BLM Masks

Whole Foods Market Inc. defeated a civil rights suit by former employees who were fired for wearing Black Lives Matters masks to protest racial injustice in the way the store treats its employees.

The grocery store chain said that the terminations were for violating its dress code, and the employees didn’t show that the explanation was a pretext for unlawful retaliation, the opinion by Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts said.

Under Whole Foods’ dress code, employees can’t wear clothing with writing on it that doesn’t promote the store. When the Covid-19 ...