Jimmy John’s Beats Class Action Bid in ‘No Poach’ Antitrust Case

Jimmy John’s LLC dodged a bid for class action status in a federal court in Illinois by the employees leading an antitrust challenge to a “no poach” agreement that previously prohibited the sandwich chain’s franchise locations from recruiting one another’s workers.

Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel declined to certify the case as a class action July 30, citing reasons similar to those offered by the federal judge in Chicago who ruled against McDonald’s Corp. workers in a similar case two days earlier.

“Given the varied and dynamic labor markets across the country"—plus employee waivers, conflicting choices by different managers, and ...