Cal. Supreme Court To Decide Headless PAGA Action Issue
Topics: Court Decisions, PAGA
We have previously discussed the evolving Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) case law regarding the issue of so-called 'headless' PAGA cases – where a PAGA plaintiff attempts to avoid arbitration by claiming to assert a purely representative PAGA claim on behalf of other allegedly aggrieved employees (read our prior coverage on this topic here and here).
In Leeper v. Shipt, Inc., the Second Appellate District confirmed that every PAGA claim includes an individual and representative claim and, therefore, a plaintiff cannot abandon their individual claim to avoid arbitration.
A plaintiff’s side law firm recently made a request to the Cal. Supreme Court to de-publish the Leeper decision. Last week, the Cal. Supreme Court denied the request to de-publish the Leeper decision and instead ordered review of the decision even though neither party filed an appeal. The Court ordered a review to resolve a split of authority between appellate courts.
In ordering review, the Court instructed the parties to brief and argue the following two legal issues:
- Does every PAGA action necessarily include both individual and non-individual PAGA claims, regardless of whether the complaint specifically alleges individual claims?
- Can a plaintiff choose to bring only a non-individual PAGA action?
We will continue to track this case and other PAGA developments. To stay up to date, be sure to subscribe to CDF’s California Labor & Employment Law blog.
