The Eight Circuit Court of Appeals (Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, and South Dakota) held Home Depot violated the rights of a worker that instead of removing the letters “BLM” on their apron, they quit and brought a claim to the NLRB. The Appeals Court overruled the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) finding that the employee’s display of political support at work was protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Caro Linda Bo wore “BLM” on their apron during the time after the George Floyd killing. The Home Depot store is just a few miles from where this happened. The area was experiencing an extraordinarily high level of tension in the community and Home Depot sought to quell some of the political rancor happening in the area at that time. Home Depot requested Bo to remove the BLM display on their apron. (Caro Linda Bo uses the pronoun they/their.) Bo refused and quit Home Depot.

The case was first brought to the NLRB that looked at this situation as protected workplace protest that is protected under the NLRA. It awarded Bo reinstatement and backpay. Home Depot appealed and argued that despite the protection of the NLRA this situation fell under a special circumstances situation that would allow the company to implement and enforce a rule that the company was enforcing to show “less politically charged messaging.”

The Eight Circuit agreed with Home Depot and held that the NLRB failed to consider the worker’s BLM message display in the “context of this dispute at this location at this point in time.” The Appeals Court referenced the divisiveness going on where BLM supporters worked alongside other workers that wore messages that were pro-police. The Appeals Court found that this situation and Home Depot’s action met the “special circumstances” rule and the judge writing the opinion on this case stated that this “was a business decision to preserve the store’s apolitical face to customers and safeguard employee safety in a risk-filled environment”

This decision does not overturn other cases that have generally found employees have the right to wear political and other displays of mutual support if it was geared towards organizing for union membership or mutual protection and support.

Source: Law 360 Employment Authority. 8the Circuit Oks Home Depot Barring of Worker’s Display of ‘BLM’ (11/6/2025)