• by Tanya Gazdik , July 24, 2024

Whole Foods has settled a lawsuit from 2020 accusing the company of illegally firing a worker who refused to remove her Black Lives Matter facemask and complained about racism at the Amazon-owned grocery brand.

A lawyer for Whole Foods said in a filing on Monday in federal court in Boston it had reached an agreement in principle to resolve the case with Savannah Kinzer, an outspoken critic who had worked in a Cambridge, Massachusetts, store. 

Kinzer, who is now a former employee, claimed that the retailer had unfairly retaliated against her for protesting the company’s dress code. 

She was joined by several other Whole Foods workers from around the country in the lawsuit alleging they were unfairly disciplined for wearing Black Lives Matter face masks in the wake of the killing of George Floyd that year that sparked widespread protests. 

"Whole Foods cited its dress code, which it said was meant to foster a welcoming, safe and inclusive shopping environment,” according to Reuters. "Kinzer and some other employees resisted, saying the company's dress code previously went unenforced.

A U.S. District Court previously dismissed their claims, but the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April revived Kinzer's individual claim that her firing constituted illegal retaliation and said a jury should resolve the dispute, according to AOL News. 

“The employees, whose individual suits had been joined together in a class action, alleged that Whole Foods had exercised ‘selective enforcement’ of its dress code because it allowed other employees to wear masks that contained messaging, such as those showing support for LGBTQ+ workers,” according to Supermarket News. “They claimed that the retailer discriminated against them based on their race. Several employees were sent home without pay for refusing to take off the masks, according to court filings. At the time, employees were required to wear face masks because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Kinzer’s claims were the last that remained of the proposed class action. A trial was set for Aug. 19. Kinzer had also filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to the New York Post.