National Labour Board rules Tesla must let workers wear union clothing

The National Labor Relations Board has reversed a Trump-era decision by finding that Tesla can't stop factory employees from wearing clothing with union insignias while on the job.

The board, in a 3-2 decision released Monday, overruled a 2019 NLRB decision involving Walmart and union clothing. The board wrote that a 1945 Supreme Court decision established the precedent for allowing the clothing.

It ordered Tesla to stop enforcing an overly broad uniform policy that effectively stops production workers at Tesla's Fremont, California, factory from wearing black shirts with the United Auto Workers union's logo.

The board said by ruling against Tesla, it reaffirmed a longstanding precedent that it is presumptively unlawful for employers to restrict union clothing without special circumstances that justify the ban.

The board majority determined that Tesla failed to establish any special circumstances that would allow banning the UAW clothing.

The board reaffirms that any attempt to restrict the wearing of union clothing or insignia is presumptively unlawful and consistent with Supreme Court precedent an employer has a heightened burden to justify attempts to limit this important right, Chairman Lauren McFerran said in a statement.

Messages were left Monday seeking comment from Tesla and the auto workers union.