Employees at a Whole Foods in Boston were sent home this week for wearing Black Lives Matter masks to work, with managers telling them their face coverings violated the company’s dress code. Savannah Kinzer said she and several co-workers wore the BLM masks at the Cambridge store after seeing reports of other Whole Foods workers across the country being sent home over their face coverings emblazoned with the social-justice message. They were told to take off the masks or go home on Wednesday, prompting seven of them to walk off the job. More employees wore the masks on Thursday, and at least a dozen people were sent home by a store manager, who said they violated the dress code. “We can’t just put a label on this and say we care and not let our own workers wear stuff in support of the movement,” Kinzer said. “Until we see it as a white person’s problem and not a Black issue that white people have to empathize with, racism will persist.”

Whole Foods said in a statement that “in a customer-focused environment, all Team Members must comply with our longstanding company dress code, which prohibits clothing with visible slogans, messages, logos or advertising that are not company-related. Team Members who do not comply with dress code are always given the opportunity to comply. If a Team Member is wearing a face mask that is outside of dress code, they are offered a new face mask. Team Members are not able to work until they comply with the policy.”