Kroger pays out thousands in row over uniforms after employees who complained about 'controversial logo' were fired
Charlotte Adams
Published Sep 07, 2026
KROGER has agreed to pay $180,000 to a pair of employees who claim they were fired for complaining about wearing the company's new uniforms which had a controversial logo.
Former employees Trudy Rickerd, 57, and Brenda Lawson, 72, were fired from a Kroger location in Arkansas for refusing to wear a new company apron with a colorful heart logo, which they claim resembled a rainbow Pride flag.
![Kroger has agreed to pay two ex-employees [not pictured above] $70,000 each after claiming the company discriminated against their religious beliefs](/uploads/kroger-has-agreed-to-pay_720.jpg)
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The new aprons featured a heart with blue, red and yellow lines around it.
Rickerd and Lawson, who are Christians, refused to wear the uniforms because they believed "the practices of that [LGBTQ] community are a sin".
Both complained to Kroger about the uniforms and were eventually fired.
The ex-employees claim Kroger targeted them because they spoke out against the rainbow and because other employees who covered it up with their name tag or didn't wear the apron weren't fired.
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Rickerd and Lawson filed a civil suit against Kroger in September 2020, alleging that the store unlawfully fired them and violated civil rights laws by discriminating against them because of their religion.
David Hogue - an Arkansas lawyer based in Conway who represented Rickerd and Lawson - said his clients’ lives were significantly affected when they were fired because they planned to retire at Kroger.
The superstore denied that it fired the ex-employees due to discrimination about their religious beliefs and said the apron uniforms were not intended to express support for the LGBTQ community.
Late last month, both parties reached a settlement, and as part of it, Kroger agreed to pay both employees $70,000 as part of the $180,000 compromise.
