“Defendant-appellant Anheuser-Busch, LLC produces many a popular brew…”
A federal district court erred in certifying a Rule 23 class of Anheuser-Busch employees who alleged that the brewing company unlawfully failed to compensate them for a host of pre- and post-shift work activities, the Fourth Circuit held. Applying Stafford v. Bojangles’ Restaurants, Inc., 123 F.4th 671 (4th Cir. 2024), which held that relying solely on overly generalized company policies will typically defeat class-action certification, the appeals court observed that it is impossible to resolve the alleged common question in the case without first answering a number of threshold inquiries that involve more particularized engagement with the record. Specifically, for instance, the court would need to know whether each employee in the putative class donned and doffed PPE on brewery premises outside shift hours, performed mandatory handoff or carryover meetings outside shift hours, or worked during a period in which the brewer mandated COVID-19 health policies (Overby v. Anheuser-Busch, LLC, No. 25-1520 (4th Cir. June 15, 2026)).
Williamsburg, Virginia brewery. Anheuser-Busch, LLC, according to the court, produces beers sold under the Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob labels, among others. The company operates numerous breweries throughout the country, including one in Williamsburg, Virginia, where it employs approximately 400 hourly workers at any given time. All the claims in the case pertain to its...
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