2023 Employment Law

Last term, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Viking River Cruises, holding that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts California law prohibiting the arbitration of claims brought under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”). In Viking River, the Supreme Court reasoned that while a plaintiff employee’s representative PAGA claims (that is, claims based on alleged Labor Code violations suffered by other employees) may not be compelled to arbitration, his or her individual PAGA claims (i.e., claims based on alleged Labor Code violations actually suffered by the plaintiff) may be so compelled.  Addressing the question of what happens to the representative component of a PAGA claim when the individual PAGA claim is compelled to arbitration, the Supreme Court majority concluded that “[w]hen an employee’s own dispute is pared away from a PAGA action, the employee is no different from a member of the general public, and PAGA does not allow such persons to maintain suit.”  Thus, in the Supreme Court majority’s view, an employee whose individual PAGA claim has been compelled to arbitration loses standing to raise representative PAGA claims in court.(more…)