On December 1, 2014, the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission granted no-action relief to Whole Foods Market regarding its request to omit a shareholder proposal from its proxy materials pursuant to Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Rule 14a-8 states that a company may exclude a shareholder proposal if such proposal directly conflicts with one of the company's own proposals to be submitted to shareholders at the same meeting.