When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last June that workers in California could not use a unique state law to join together and sue their employers, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said California’s courts, the final interpreters of state law, could still reach a different conclusion.
Now a state appeals court has borne out her prediction.
In a case initially filed in Contra Costa County and later transferred south, the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Fresno issued a precedent-setting decision Friday saying employees can ask a judge to penalize an employer for violating coworkers’ rights under labor laws, such as laws regulating minimum wages, meal and rest breaks and overtime.
The suits are authorized by a 2004 California law, the Private Attorneys’ General Act, or PAGA. They are filed in the name of the state, which receives 75% of any penalties awarded by the courts, with the rest going to the workers.
“A federal court’s interpretation of California law is not binding,” even if it comes from the nation’s highest court, Justice Donald Franson wrote in the 3-0 ruling. He said allowing employees to sue for state labor law violations serves the law’s “remedial purpose, which PAGA achieves by deputizing employees to pursue civil penalties on the state’s behalf.”
Business groups have long opposed PAGA, calling it a windfall for lawyers and a burden on the economy, and have qualified an initiative for the 2024 ballot that would repeal the law.
The central dispute in the court cases is...
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