Anheuser-Busch Defeats Virginia Workers’ Class Status on Appeal

Anheuser-Busch LLC escaped having to defend hundreds of Virginia brewery employees’ pre- and post-shift work pay claims as a group after a federal appeals court reversed the lower court’s class certification.

The common legal questions and company policies that the workers faced weren’t enough to override differences among their circumstances to justify treating their claims as a class action, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for Fourth Circuit ruled Monday.

“We find substantial variance in the tasks employees performed, when/where those tasks occurred, and the legal standards to which prospective class members are subject,” Judge J. ...