The U.S. Supreme Court stands in Washington, February 6, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

The company and law firm names shown above are generated automatically based on the text of the article. We are improving this feature as we continue to test and develop in beta. We welcome feedback, which you can provide using the feedback tab on the right of the page.

(Reuters) - If you believe the accounts of California employers in newly filed amicus briefs at the U.S. Supreme Court, the state’s Private Attorneys General Act has been a billion-dollar catastrophe for them and not much use to their workers.

PAGA litigation, these employers contend, results in less recovery for workers than in cases brought by the state and mainly benefits a coterie of plaintiffs lawyers who have figured out how to leverage precedent from the California Supreme Court and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to score fat paydays for themselves.

It's pretty feisty stuff, but you should read these briefs with a skeptical eye. They’re obviously telling only one side of the story of PAGA litigation, in which individual employees are authorized to sue employers on behalf of coworkers for alleged California labor code violations.

PAGA litigation is undoubtedly a bustling industry in California. The state’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency receives, on average, 17 PAGA notifications every day, though not all of those notices lead to actual PAGA suits. The state’s PAGA recoveries, according to an amicus...

Read Full Story: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/californias-private-ag-act-is-scourg...