In a recent Bloomberg Law article, Thompson Coburn partners Mike Kun and Kevin Sullivan examined how California’s wage‑and‑hour landscape remains unsettled after the enactment of the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA). Despite a 2024 legislative overhaul, courts continue to grapple with fundamental procedural and standing issues that significantly influence employer exposure.
“After PAGA deputized employees to act as private attorneys general, allowing them to file lawsuits on behalf of other employees without the need to certify a class, California employers have endured a 22-year wave of often massive lawsuits,” they wrote.
Mike and Kevin noted that state lawmakers revised the statute in 2024 after a heavily funded ballot initiative threatened to repeal PAGA entirely and replace it with the Fair Play and Employer Accountability Act. “The amendments sought to reduce baseless litigation, reward compliance by employers, and restore some balance to the enforcement system,” they wrote.
Read the full article here.
