A California appellate court recently issued a decision that reinforced the growing trend that an employee’s representative claims under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) may be extinguished when the employee loses in arbitration on the underlying individual claims.

Quick Hits

• The California Court of Appeal held that an arbitrator’s finding of no Labor Code violations has issue-preclusive effect on an employee’s PAGA standing.
• The decision barred an employee from pursuing representative PAGA claims in court after losing on individual claims in arbitration.
• The ruling confirms a powerful strategy for employers: compel individual claims to arbitration, secure a favorable ruling, and then move to dismiss the representative PAGA action.

On March 3, 2026, in Sorokunov v. NetApp, Inc., the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District held that, absent any Labor Code violations, which were dismissed in arbitration, the employee is no longer an “aggrieved employee,” and the employee’s representative PAGA claim cannot survive.

Background

Former NetApp employee Alexander Sorokunov sued the company, alleging various Labor Code violations related to his compensation and sought civil penalties under PAGA on behalf of himself and other affected employees.

The trial court granted NetApp’s motion to compel arbitration of Sorokunov’s individual (non-PAGA) claims but refused to stay the PAGA claim during the arbitration proceedings. The trial court confirmed the...

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