Wearing the right hat

An administrative law judge has ruled an employer's policy prohibiting employees from wearing baseball caps other than the employer's interferes with employees exercise of section 7 rights. Quad Graphics 32-CA-062242. Usually wearing union insignia at work is presumptively a valid exercise of rights protected by the NLRA. An employer in retail and or healthcare settings has a bit more leeway in mandating dress codes. An employer must establish special circumstances to justify infringement of the Section 7 right.

In this case the employer argued 1) safety concerns (keeping hair out of machinery), 2) preventing gang activity and 3) promoting effective customer interaction. Each of the proffered justifications was rejected. The "safety" argument applied equally to the employer's cap as well as similarly styled caps including those with union insignia or other protected expressive content. The "gang activity" rationale failed since there was no evidence of gang activity. The "customer interaction" exception failed because there was no evidence the employees interacted with customers.