Wilder v Kroger Settlement: $20.8M Payout, Eligibility, and Timing

The Wilder v. Kroger settlement is a $20.8 million federal class action resolution covering roughly 47,000 hourly Kroger employees who were underpaid, over-deducted, or missed paychecks after the company’s MyTime/MyInfo payroll system failed between September 1, 2022, and May 31, 2023. A federal judge in the Southern District of Ohio granted final approval on November 26, 2025, and eligible class members receive checks automatically without filing a claim.¹²

What the $20.8 Million Actually Pays For

The headline figure combines two separate pots of money. Kroger hired Deloitte to audit its payroll records and identify every worker who was shortchanged. Based on that audit, the company already repaid more than $10 million directly to affected employees to cover unpaid or delayed wages, benefits, paid time off, and improper deductions. That remediation was completed before the settlement was finalized.¹

On top of that, the settlement created a separate fund of approximately $5.27 million to compensate class members for damages beyond the straight repayment of what they were owed. Payouts from this fund are scaled to the size of each worker’s documented shortfall.³

Who Is Covered

You qualify if you were a non-exempt, hourly current or former Kroger employee who experienced underpayments or over-deductions between September 1, 2022, and May 31, 2023. The class is nationwide with one carve-out: employees who worked in Oregon or Washington are excluded, because Kroger’s Fred Meyer subsidiary in those states is the subject of a parallel case, Woody v. Fred Meyer Stores.¹⁴

How Much You Get

The additional fund pays two different rates depending on where you worked. The split reflects the strength of each state’s wage-and-hour laws.

Employees in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia are eligible for approximately 62% of their documented underpayments or over-deductions.
Employees in all other covered states (excluding Oregon and Washington) are eligible for approximately 42% of their documented discrepancies.¹

Do You Need to File a Claim

No. If you are eligible, you will automatically receive a check. There is no claim form to submit.¹

When the Checks Go Out

Judge Jeffery P. Hopkins granted final approval on November 26, 2025, clearing the way for the $5.27 million fund to be distributed. The settlement terms say eligible class members will receive checks “as soon as possible” after final approval. The available records do not specify a precise mailing date.¹ Claims administration is being handled by Rust Consulting.²

What Went Wrong

In September 2022, Kroger moved its payroll to a cloud-based platform called MyInfo/MyTime. The rollout failed. System outages and software glitches meant the company could not reliably track employee hours, and the problems dragged on into May 2023.¹ Hourly workers reported canceled direct deposits, missed paychecks, short paychecks, and unauthorized deductions for taxes and health-care premiums. The UFCW Local 400 union alone received more than 1,000 payroll discrepancy reports from its members.⁵

The lead case, Wilder v. The Kroger Co. (No. 1:22-cv-00681), was filed November 17, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Two related cases from other jurisdictions were transferred in and consolidated before Judge Hopkins for a global resolution.²⁶

Fees and Named Plaintiff Awards

Class counsel originally asked for roughly $4.9 million in attorney fees. Judge Hopkins called the request “unreasonable” and “excessive,” noting it amounted to 47% of the roughly $10 million common fund. The court cut the request by about a third and approved $3,445,256 in fees plus $48,845.38 in litigation expenses.⁷ The court also approved $175,000 to Rust Consulting for administration and $5,000 enhancement payments to each named plaintiff across the three consolidated cases.²

1
ClassAction.org. $20.8 Million Kroger Settlement Reached to Resolve Unpaid Wage Lawsuit
2
PACER Monitor. Wilder v The Kroger Co
3
Frantz Ward. Ohio Federal Court Preliminarily Approves $20 Million Settlement for Kroger Wage and Hour Lawsuit
4
Legal Dive. Kroger, Fred Meyer Payroll Missed Paycheck Employee Lawsuit
5
The National Desk. Employees Sue Kroger for Wage Theft
6
ClassAction.org. Wilder v The Kroger Co Motion for Preliminary Settlement Approval
7
Bloomberg Law. Kroger Wage and Hour Pact Attorney Fee Bid Slashed as Excessive