By most accounts, the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004, or “PAGA” has been a colossal failure. When enacted, PAGA was supposed to provide a mechanism for “aggrieved employees” to act as private attorneys general in enforcing California’s wage and hour laws, filling in gaps purposefully left by California’s underfunded Labor and Workforce Development Agency (“LWDA”).

However, as soon as the law was proposed, skeptical employers predicted that it would touch off a tidal wave of “bounty hunter” litigation and lead to disproportionate penalties and settlements relative to actual injuries suffered. Of course, that is exactly what happened. However noble PAGA’s original objectives may have been, and despite multiple attempts to “fix” the law through amendment, the statute has created a cottage industry of PAGA representative actions (over 6,000 last year alone). Even more troublingly, PAGA has not provided the benefits promised.

Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal. © 2022 Daily Journal Corporation. All rights reserved.