Employees have a right to express support for Black Lives Matter while they’re on the job, according to a historic labor board decision

The aftershocks of George Floyd’s death are still reverberating for Home Depot. Godofredo A. Vásquez-Pool/Getty Images by Michael Z. Green, Texas A&M University A Home Depot store violated labor law when it disciplined Antonio Morales, the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Feb. 21, 2024. Morales, a Home Depot employee in the Minneapolis area, had drawn the letters BLM on a work apron and refused to remove them. BLM stands for the Black Lives Matter movement, which campaigns against violence and systemic racism aimed at Black people. Morales ultimately quit because of pressure to end the use of BLM messaging. The NLRB has now ordered Home Depot to rehire Morales based on the legal right U.S. employees have to engage in “concerted activity” for the purpose of “mutual aid or protection.” As a legal scholar who has studied issues of race in the workplace for more than 20 years, I believe the Home Depot decision establishes an important precedent for workers who express broad concerns about systemic racism. This decision indicates that employees have a right to demonstrate their support for the Black Lives Matter movement on the job if they are seeking to improve their own working conditions with...