(Reuters) - A federal judge in Boston on Thursday predicted a swift resolution to a proposed nationwide class action lawsuit accusing Whole Foods Market Inc of showing racial bias by disciplining workers who wore Black Lives Matter face masks on the job.

During a status conference conducted via Zoom on whether to set an expedited discovery schedule, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said claims by Whole Foods' lawyer, Michael Banks of Morgan Lewis & Bockius, that extensive discovery was warranted were overblown.

Burroughs predicted that the case would likely settle, which could involve Whole Foods overhauling its dress code.

"Whole Foods doesn't want to litigate this for a year and have this racist label attached to them," Burroughs said. "It seems like this is going to resolve itself somewhere short of having a billion experts and a billion depositions, and I think what will come out in the end is that it was a facially neutral policy that was inconsistently applied."

The 28 named plaintiffs in the July lawsuit say Whole Foods and its parent, Amazon.com Inc, are selectively enforcing a policy banning "visible slogans, messages, logos or advertising," and has forced workers to remove Black Lives Matter face masks and disciplined those who refused. The company has denied wrongdoing.

Banks on Thursday disagreed with Burroughs, saying Whole Foods and Amazon would not concede that the policy was not applied consistently.

"I don't think Whole Foods and Amazon have an interest in modifying their dress code policy," he said, "and I think this is going to be litigated and possibly tried."

"If I had a different job, I'd take a bet on that," Burroughs responded. "Discovery is not going to resolve these issues. It's always going to be he said-she said on whether (the way the dress code was applied) was oversight or racial animus."

Shannon Liss-Riordan of Lichten & Liss-Riordan, who represents the workers, said it had become clear that the case would require more extensive discovery than she had initially proposed. The plaintiffs on Wednesday withdrew a motion for an emergency preliminary injunction, which would have allowed them to wear the masks pending further developments in the case, after Whole Foods said it did not have enough time to conduct discovery.

But Liss-Riordan told Burroughs that it was crucial for discovery to wrap up in a month or two, because "these employees would really like an answer."

Burroughs concluded the status conference by saying that she would not set a discovery schedule until she rules on Whole Foods' August motion to dismiss the case, since dismissal would moot the need for discovery.

That ruling should come quickly, she said, because the law clerk working on the motion will soon be leaving the position.

Whole Foods in the motion said the plaintiffs had failed to state a claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The law requires a showing that an adverse employment action was based on "unfounded stereotypes and assumptions," but the claims in the lawsuit have nothing to do with stereotypes or assumptions about Black people, the company said.

The case is Frith v. Whole Foods Market Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, No. 1:20-cv-11358.

For the plaintiffs: Shannon Liss-Riordan of Lichten & Liss-Riordan

For Whole Foods and Amazon: Michael Banks and Sarah Butson of Morgan Lewis & Bockius