Seyfarth Defeats Class Certification for WinCo Foods: Federal Judge Uses Dukes To Deny Certification To Large Class Of Grocery Employees Alleging Late Lunches

Yesterday, Federal District Court Judge John A. Kronstadt (Central District of California) denied certification to a proposed class of over 5,000 grocery employees at all WinCo Foods warehouse grocery stores in California.  In Hughes v. WinCo Foods, plaintiffs sought to certify a class of all hourly employees at WinCo stores in California on "late" meal period claims.  Plaintiffs alleged that WinCo failed to provide the grocery employees with meal periods during the first five hours of their shifts.  Citing the recent Supreme Court decision in Dukes, Judge Kronstadt found plaintiffs failed to establish the Rule 23 class certification requirements because WinCo gave store and department managers discretion over the timing and arrangement of meal periods.  As a result, the decision-making with respect to when employees took meal periods varied from store to store and department to department such that the timing of meal periods could not be proven reliably on behalf of the class with evidence in "a single stroke." 

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