McDonald’s Sidesteps Class Action Status in ‘No Poach’ Lawsuit

Two McDonald’s Corp. workers leading antitrust litigation against the fast food giant lost their bid for class action status, when a federal judge in Chicago rejected claims that a “no poach” pact among the chain’s locations—discontinued in 2017—had a uniform impact on employees nationwide.

Judge Jorge L. Alonso declined to certify the case as a class action Wednesday, finding that the issues facing all McDonald’s workers were dwarfed in significance by regional variations in the labor market. Those differences would defeat the purpose of collective litigation, he said.

The employees have not “put forth evidence that they sell their labor ...