Following a growing trend among courts in FLSA collective actions, a federal judge in the District of Columbia refused to certify a broad group of employees asserting claims in connection with an automatic meal break deduction policy. In Dinkel v. Medstar Health, Inc., the plaintiffs, who worked at one of the nine hospitals within Medstar Health’s network, sought to certify a class of all employees subject to automatic meal break deductions at all nine Medstar Health hospitals. The plaintiffs claimed that the auto-deduct policy, which allowed employees to request payment for missed meal breaks, “was coupled with a common practice of imposing limitations on, discouraging, and ignoring efforts to recover pay for missed meal breaks.” To learn more about the decision and its potential implications for employers, please continue reading at Littler's Healthcare Employment Counsel.