Meijer employee says store made her remove Black Lives Matter mask
A Mejier employee in southwest Michigan said she wore a Black Lives Matter mask for a week but was told she had to take it off after one customer complained.
Tamika Sullivan told WWMT-TV she was working at the South Haven Meijer on Friday, June 19, and had been on duty for less than an hour with her 'BLM' mask on when her boss called her in. She said she had worn the mask all that week in accordance with health guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic but had no issues all week.
But she said that Friday her boss said she had to take off her mask or wear it inside out because of a complaint.
“When I went in there, he basically told me that I got one customer complaint. He said that they did not like my mask,” she said. “I started crying and I broke down because I really felt like my rights were getting taken away from me...they told me that it can’t be political, but it’s not actually political. It’s three letters. And because of one customer complaint?"
After given the ultimatum, Sullivan said she chose to go home instead. The next day, she went in for her shift with a different mask on but heard support from another manager and planned to wear the BLM mask during her next shift.
She said her experience is a microcosm of larger racial issues in South Haven.
"It’s like they don’t want to hire people around here if you're Black, or they don’t want to give the same or equal rights and stuff that anybody else would get," she said, speaking on businesses in the city in general. "It’s like if we can’t be equal, how are we going to be a community if we all are divided?"
WWMT obtained this statement from Frank Guglielmi, senior director for Meijer’s corporate communications.
“Meijer has specific guidelines for team member uniforms, which include face coverings. We provide all our team members with face masks and if they choose to use their own mask, they need to adhere to our guidelines for neutrality.”