Tag Archives: PAGA

The Ninth Circuit Rules That both an Arbitrator and a Trial Court May Have a Role in a Case with Individual and PAGA Claims

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in PAGA
Employers, plaintiffs, and courts continue to grapple with the difficult issue of the interplay between the California Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) and arbitration agreements. We’ve addressed these issues several times on this blog, including a March 30, 2017 blog in which we discussed the case of Hernandez v. Ross Stores, Inc., No. E064026, 2016 … Continue Reading

Esparza V. Ks Industries, L.P. – Separating PAGA & Unpaid Wage Claims – A Ray Of Sunshine?

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in PAGA
We have been following how California courts deal with the intersection of Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) claims and individual arbitration agreements after Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, 59 Cal. 4th 348 (2014) (“Iskanian”) for some time.  See, for example, our blog posts from October 7, 2015, March 8, 2017 and March 30, 2017 … Continue Reading

California Supreme Court Denies Sequenced Discovery in Representative PAGA Action

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in PAGA, Wage and Hour
On July 13, 2017, the California Supreme Court rejected lower court holdings that limited an employee’s ability to secure statewide employee contact and employment information in a representative PAGA action, when the plaintiff only worked in one of the employer’s stores. In Williams v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County (Marshalls of CA, LLC), Case … Continue Reading

Arbitration of PAGA Claims: Another California Divide Emerges

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in Arbitration
In a March 8, 2017, article, we talked about how the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals compelled the arbitration of a California Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) representative claim in Valdez v. Terminix International Co., L.P., No. 15-56736 (9th Cir. Mar. 3, 2017). And, while we mentioned potential difficulties in arbitrating such cases, we didn’t … Continue Reading

Arbitrating PAGA Claims: The Ninth Circuit Compels It in the Valdez Case

Photo of John LewisPhoto of Dustin DowBy John Lewis and Dustin Dow on Posted in Arbitration
So much case law has come down in the past several years regarding California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) – and its ability to withstand class and representative action waivers – that observers might have overestimated PAGA’s arbitration-avoidance powers. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals offered a reminder on Tuesday that even though an arbitration … Continue Reading

The Next Chapter – Uber Responds to District Court Order With a New Arbitration Agreement

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in Class Certification, Independent Contractors, PAGA
Not only did Uber respond to the district court’s December 9, 2015, ruling (discussed in our December 11 blog) with an immediate notice of appeal, but on December 11 it rolled out a new arbitration agreement for its drivers. This maneuver has garnered considerable media attention and prompted the plaintiffs to file an emergency motion … Continue Reading

District Judge Rules Uber’s Arbitration Agreements Unenforceable on Public Policy Grounds

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in Class Certification, Independent Contractors, PAGA
On September 2, we addressed the much-publicized O’Connor v. Uber Technologies, Inc. case (No. 13-cv-03826-EMC) pending before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In O’Connor, a group of 160,000 current and former drivers contend that they were Uber’s employees rather than independent contractors and hence entitled to protections provided by the … Continue Reading

PAGA In The News – Ninth Circuit Sides with California Supreme Court On Enforcement of PAGA Waivers and California Amends The Statute

Photo of John LewisPhoto of Carrie ValdezBy John Lewis and Carrie Valdez on Posted in PAGA
The Ninth Circuit Decision Delivering a perhaps unexpected blow to employers, the Ninth Circuit sided with the California Supreme Court earlier this week in upholding the state-court-fashioned Iskanian rule, which prevents employees from waiving representative Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) claims in their employment agreement. Sakkab v. Luxottica Retail N. Am., Inc., 9th Cir., No. … Continue Reading

Justices Pass on Second Opportunity to Resolve the California PAGA Divide in the Bridgestone Case

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in Arbitration, PAGA, Retail
For a second time the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging a California Supreme Court holding that the state’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) could not be waived in a mandatory arbitration agreement. The January 5, 2015, certiorari petition in Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC v. Brown, No. 14-790 asserted: This case presents … Continue Reading

The Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari in Iskanian only hardens the federal-state divide over PAGA claims

Photo of John LewisPhoto of Dustin DowBy John Lewis and Dustin Dow on Posted in Arbitration, PAGA
The divide continues between California and federal law on whether an arbitration agreement can entirely waive an employee’s ability to seek classwide or multiparty representational relief. The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied certiorari in CLS Transp. Los Angeles LLC v. Iskanian, No. 14-341, leaving in place the California Supreme Court’s June 23 ruling that representative … Continue Reading

The Widening California Divide: The Rejection of Iskanian by Federal District Courts and Potential Resolution

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in PAGA
In an October 22, 2014, posting, we addressed the growing divide between California federal district courts and the California Supreme Court over whether an arbitration agreement can waive an employee’s right to pursue a representative claim under the state’s Private Attorney General Act (PAGA).  That divide has now widened as two more federal district courts … Continue Reading

The California Divide: Federal Courts Refuse to Follow State Supreme Court’s Iskanian Decision

Photo of John LewisPhoto of Dustin DowBy John Lewis and Dustin Dow on Posted in Arbitration, PAGA
One of the last barriers to full enforcement of arbitration agreements with class action waivers sustained another blow last week.  A California federal district court disagreed with the California Supreme Court in holding that an employment arbitration agreement can waive an employee’s right to pursue a representative claim under the state’s Private Attorney General Act … Continue Reading

Court Rejects NLRB’s Restrictive View of Class Action Waivers in Arbitration

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in Arbitration, Meal and Rest Periods
NLRB’s D.R. Horton Decision and Public Policy Cannot Undermine Concepcion – Morvant v. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc. A Northern District of California judge has held that neither the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) decision in  D.R. Horton, Inc., 357 N.L.R.B. No. 184 (January 3, 2012), nor the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 101 et … Continue Reading

California Court Compels Arbitration of Employment Class Action on an Individual Basis

Photo of Greg MersolBy Greg Mersol on Posted in Arbitration
The enforcement of arbitration agreements in the employment context has been maddeningly inconsistent, with different jurisdictions creating their own requirements and rules that might render such an agreement unenforceable. Predictably, California courts were in the vanguard of invalidating employment arbitration agreements. California courts created their own rules that, among other things, largely required class action … Continue Reading

California Court Finds Concepcion Does Not Apply to Arbitration of PAGA Claims

Photo of Greg MersolBy Greg Mersol on Posted in Arbitration
The battle between California courts and the U.S. Supreme Court over arbitration agreements wages on. Though California courts frequently make perfunctory statements about the strong public policy in favor of arbitration agreements, these statements are undercut by the many cases in which the courts appear to bend over backwards to find arbitration agreements unconscionable or … Continue Reading
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