Whole Foods employees must wear masks on the job because of the coronavirus.
Jessica Dolcourt / CNET
Whole Foods workers are accusing the supermarket chain of discriminating against employees for wearing Black Lives Matter face masks at work. In a proposed class action lawsuit filed Monday, workers allege that Amazon-owned Whole Foods sent employees home without pay or took other disciplinary action against them for wearing face masks with BLM messages.
The allegations appear to clash with public support for Amazon’s BLM and CEO Jeff Bezos. Last month, Bezos posted his responses to racist emails from customers, defending a Black Lives Matter poster that appeared on the Amazon site. The e-commerce giant also pledged $ 10 million to organizations that help black communities and fight for social justice.
Whole Foods employees must wear face masks at work due to the coronavirus pandemic. After the murder of George Floyd by the police and nationwide protests, some Whole Foods employees began wearing masks that showed solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
While the grocery store has a dress code that prohibits employees from wearing items with visible slogans, messages, or logos that are not related to the company, the lawsuit says the policy was generally not enforced. Whole Foods employees have used items that express support for other causes, such as the Pride flags, without being disciplined, according to the lawsuit.
“Whole Foods’ actions against its employees are not only illegal but shameful,” Shannon Liss-Riordan, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement Monday. “Whole Foods’ decision to selectively and arbitrarily enforce its’ dress code ‘to specifically suppress the message that Black Lives Matter paints a picture of what the company values, and that picture is not pretty.”
One of the plaintiffs in the case, Savannah Kinzer, said she was fired for wearing a Black Lives Matter mask and for organizing other employees to do so as well.
A Whole Foods spokesman said the company was unable to comment on pending litigation, but added that “no team member has been fired for wearing Black Lives Matter masks or clothing.” Whole Foods said Kinzer was fired for being late and missing turns.
Whole Food’s policy requires employees to report to work shifts in dress code, a company spokesperson said. “As an employer, we must maintain our policies fairly and consistently,” the spokesperson said.
Whole Foods also says it has a zero tolerance policy for retaliation against employees, as well as multiple options for team members to report their concerns, including a confidential line.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court in Massachusetts on behalf of 14 employees at Whole Foods stores in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Bedford, New Hampshire; Berkeley, California; and Seattle, Washington.
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