NLRB Judge Invalidates Company Dress Code

A National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) partially invalidated a Honda dealer’s dress code that prohibited employees who have contact with the public from wearing pins, insignia or other message clothing. A copy of the decision is attached here. Even though the work rule applied to all messaging regardless of the topic, the ALJ concluded that the rule violated the employees’ rights to display union insignia in the workplace.

In reaching his conclusion, the ALJ relied on the NLRB’s longstanding holding that employees have the presumptive right to wear union insignia at work. An employer seeking to overcome this presumption must establish special circumstances that make the rule necessary to maintain production or discipline, or to ensure safety. Such special circumstances include situations where wearing messages may jeopardize employee safety, damage machinery or products, exacerbate employee dissension, or unreasonably