A federal appeals court has sided with Tesla in a legal fight centered on a logoed T-shirt worn by employees at the electric vehicle maker’s factory in Fremont, CA.

Based in New Orleans, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a decision on Nov. 14 which said Tesla did not violate workers’ right to unionize when it ordered employees to refrain from wearing shirts that bore the logo of the United Auto Workers union (UAW).

The judges indicated they might have determined Tesla had infringed on workers’ rights if the company banned the wearing/display of any pro-union items. However, the court noted, Tesla allowed employees to “affix any number or size of union stickers to their team wear” – and was thus not interfering with pro-union speech or organizing.

The roots of the court battle extend to 2017 when employees started wearing UAW shirts instead of black clothing bearing the Tesla name and logo the company had issued, documents indicated.

Tesla made the case that the company-provided shirts served an important practical purpose, as they helped prevent workers from causing damage on freshly painted cars in which the paint hadn’t fully cured.

As such, Tesla reportedly ordered the UAW shirts shelved in favor of the company “Team Wear,” as it was called.

That sparked employee backlash, and the matter came before the National Labor Relations Board. In 2022, the NLRB ruled in favor of the workers, saying that any attempt to ban union insignia was unlawful unless Tesla could demonstrate there were extenuating circumstances that necessitated such a prohibition, such as safety issues.

The Fifth Circuit Court overturned that ruling, essentially saying the NLRB was wrong in its decision because employees could still voice pro-union sentiments.

“The Team Wear policy — or any hypothetical company’s uniform policy — advances a legitimate interest of the employer and neither discriminates against union communication nor affects nonworking time,” Judge Jerry Smith stated for the court.

Tesla workers are not unionized. UAW has said that it aims to make a strong push to organize workers at nonunion auto plants. Amid contentious negotiations, the union recently won new contracts for members with the “Big Three” Detroit automakers.