MYMONEY HOUR PAGA CODE
MYMONEY HOUR PAGA TRIAL

An 'aggrieved employee' is defined in PAGA as 'any person who was employed by the alleged violator and against whom one or more of the alleged violations was committed.' Only an aggrieved employee has standing to bring a PAGA claim. So who can represent the state in a PAGA claim? Not every private citizen can serve as the state's representative, Corrigan noted. 'Relief under PAGA is designed primarily to benefit the general public, not the party bringing the action,' wrote Justice Carol Corrigan for the California Supreme Court. Plaintiffs can also recoup attorney fees. Every subsequent violation carries a $200 penalty. 'Since the law was first enacted in 2004, many California employers have been hit with PAGA actions, in which employees can seek substantial civil penalties previously only recoverable by the state of California,' noted Kelly Gemelli and Jason Dawson, attorneys with Jackson Lewis in San Diego.Īn initial PAGA violation carries a $100 penalty per employee per pay period. An employee who sues under PAGA is acting as an agent for California's labor law enforcement agencies. 'A PAGA claim is legally and conceptually different from an employee's own suit for damages and statutory penalties,' the state high court explained. But the California Supreme Court disagreed. The employer argued that, because the worker's claims were dismissed, he was no longer an 'aggrieved employee' under PAGA and therefore could not pursue the remaining claims. He ultimately accepted a settlement offer, and his individual and class claims were dismissed.

MYMONEY HOUR PAGA TRIAL

The employee had signed an arbitration agreement when he was hired, and the trial court said he had to arbitrate his individual claims. He also sought civil penalties under PAGA. In this case, the plaintiff brought individual and class claims against a restaurant chain for allegedly failing to pay wages and overtime, failing to allow meal and rest periods, and failing to provide proper wage statements.

Employers should view every PAGA claim as a dispute with the state, not as a dispute with the employee bringing the claim. But the California Supreme Court reversed the ruling, pointing to language in the act indicating that a plaintiff's standing to bring a PAGA claim is 'not inextricably linked to the plaintiff's own injury.'īarbara Harris Chiang, an attorney with Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck in San Francisco, said the ruling is 'unwelcomed by employers, but not necessarily unexpected.'Įmployers should not assume a pre-litigation settlement with an individual employee for alleged wage and hour violations will prevent that employee from bringing a PAGA action or from being an aggrieved party if another employee files such an action, she said. The appeals court found that the plaintiff was no longer an aggrieved employee with PAGA standing.

Reins International California, Inc., the dispute centered on whether the plaintiff was still an 'aggrieved employee' who could pursue his remaining PAGA claims after he settled his individual claims that were brought in the same lawsuit. Seventy-five percent of the penalties that are recovered go to the state, and 25 percent go to employees.

MYMONEY HOUR PAGA CODE

PAGA allows aggrieved employees to sue over alleged labor code violations on behalf of themselves and other employees by stepping into the shoes of state regulators to recover civil penalties. An employee who settled his individual wage and hour claims against his former employer can still pursue a representative claim under the California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).

Mymoney hour paga