California Labor Law Allows Citizens to Sue for Violations

August 19, 2013 1 Comments

By Heidi Turner

Los Angeles, CA California labor law is designed to ensure that California employers treat employees fairly. When employee’s rights under the California Labor Code are violated, employees may be able to file a lawsuit. There are some violations of California state labor laws that only a state agency could file claims for, but the Private Attorney General Act of 2004 changed that.

The Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) was created because the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency did not have the resources to investigate all labor code complaints. As a result, PAGA was developed to give private citizens the right to sue for such violations of the code and recover civil penalties on behalf of the state. If the plaintiff is successful in his lawsuit, he and any injured employees are given 25 percent of the penalties along with any money owed by their employer and attorneys’ fees, while the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency keeps 75 percent of the fines.

There are rules for a person to file a lawsuit under PAGA. First, a complaint must be filed with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. If the agency declines to investigate the complaint, or if it fails to respond to the employee within 33 days, a PAGA lawsuit can be filed, provided it falls within the statute of limitations of one year.

If an employee were to sue for unpaid wages, for example, he could file a suit under the Private Attorney General Act. If he won, he and fellow employees would recover his unpaid wages, which he would keep, plus he and any other harmed employees would receive 25 percent of any civil penalties awarded by the court.

Currently, lawsuits against a variety of plaintiffs filed under PAGA are working their way through the courts. One such lawsuit was filed against Orkin, alleging employees were not properly paid for meal breaks or overtime. According to Courthouse News Service (8/13/13), Orkin argued that the lawsuit should be moved to federal court, but the 9th Circuit found that because the lawsuit was filed under PAGA, which is unique to California, the lawsuit belonged in state court.

The Urbino lawsuit is Urbino v. Orkin Servs. Of California, Inc., No. 11-56944.

Area of Law Wage & Hour

Industry Professional Service

1 Comment

david
August 27, 2013

i had my conference on 8/12/13 . i have been waiting for the ODA. Today i called the dlse in san diego , the representative told me , the deputy closed my claim the same day. i asked , how could she close my claim ? 1. ) i have not received any letter of decision. 2.) i have not been given the chance to appeal her decision. is this legal ? at my conference, i felt like i was being railroaded . i was very displeased with the proceedings and the formality in which it took place. now, i feel completely violated of my rights to due process and my right for a fair chance to receiving my unpaid wages . my employer violated me up and down. 1.) no time records kept for period claimed. 2.) was not paid for all hours and days i worked. he only paid me for 10 days a cycle when i worked 11 and 12 days in some cycles. i wasnt salary. 3.) was not paid milage. 4. ) employed loaned me $10,000.00 for a vehicle. he was deducting $315 out of $400 every pay cycle . is this legal ? he ended up cheating me for the same amount he loaned me $10,000.00 on what he called an INTEREST FREE LOAN. AND HIS FAVORITE SAYING WAS ", WE OPERATE ON THE HONOR SYSTEM " ! i have documentation of days hours times , i have phone records verifying my notes , i have reeipts also verifying my notes. i have witnesses backing my claim .