California has passed employer-friendly changes to the state’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), which authorizes aggrieved employees to file lawsuits to recover civil penalties on behalf of themselves and other employees for Labor Code violations (e.g., an employer fails to provide an employee with a required wage statement). Some of the changes include the following:
- If, prior to receiving the notice of violation, or prior to receiving a request for records from the aggrieved employee or the employee’s counsel, the employer has taken all reasonable steps to be in compliance with all provisions identified in the complaint, the civil penalty that may be recovered in a civil action is capped at 15 percent of the penalty sought.
- For many alleged violations, an employer may avoid liability by curing the violation. “Cure” means that the employer corrects the violation alleged by the aggrieved employee, is in compliance with the underlying statutes, and each aggrieved employee is made whole.
- Employees may not collect multiple civil penalties based on an underlying unpaid wage violation, unless the additional violations are willful or intentional.
The new PAGA provisions are effective immediately.
