Labor board did not consider Starbucks’ public image, court says
Latest court to rebuff agency’s rulings on workplace dress codes

By Daniel Wiessner

Sept 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday reversed a federal labor board ruling that said Starbucks broke the law by barring workers at a flagship Manhattan store with a “steampunk hipster vibe” from wearing t-shirts or multiple pins supporting a union.

The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the National Labor Relations Board failed to properly balance Starbucks’ ability to present its preferred image to customers with its workers’ rights to encourage unionizing.

Starbucks and a spokesman for the labor board did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The ruling is the latest by a U.S. appeals court to say that the labor board went too far in finding workplace dress codes interfered with employees’ rights to advocate for better working conditions and join unions.

A St. Louis-based court last year said Home Depot had the right to bar employees from writing “Black Lives Matter” on their orange work aprons, and in 2023 a different court said Tesla could bar factory workers in California from wearing union t-shirts.

The labor board in the case involving Tesla had said that any workplace policy prohibiting union paraphernalia was unlawful unless an employer could prove that “special circumstances” exist to justify restrictions.

A three-judge 2nd Circuit panel on Wednesday said that test rendered many common workplace dress codes illegal and failed to properly balance employers’ legitimate interests, such as safety or their public image, with their obligation to respect workers’ labor rights.

The 23,000-square-foot Starbucks store in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District includes an on-site roastery, coffee and cocktail bars, a bakery and retail space.

Instead of Starbucks’ standard green aprons and black tops, workers there don brown aprons and collared shirts or turtlenecks in muted colors and can opt to wear a handful of pre-approved shirts and pins. Those support various causes such as military veterans, Black Lives Matter, Hispanic Heritage Month and World AIDS Day, according to court filings.

The store in 2022 became one of the first Starbucks locations to unionize; workers at 700 other U.S. stores have voted to join unions since then, and in the process have filed hundreds of complaints with the NLRB accusing the company of illegal labor practices.

The board in 2024 ruled that before the Manhattan store unionized, Starbucks interfered with workers’ rights there by prohibiting union shirts and more than one pin, and that the company failed to show any legitimate justification for the policies.

The 2nd Circuit on Wednesday overturned the decision and sent the case back to the labor board “to apply a more evenly measured balancing test.” The five-member board had a Democratic majority when it first decided the case and now has a 3-1 Republican majority appointed by President Donald Trump.