On Wednesday, June 15th, the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) to block employee lawsuits against employers for workplace violations under the California Private Attorney General Act (PAGA). Here, Stanford Law Professor David Freeman Engstrom and Catherina Xu, a member of the Stanford Law School class of 2024, discuss the Court’s ruling in Viking River Cruises v. Moriana and its implications for the policing of employer misconduct.

What is the California Private Attorney General Act?

PAGA is a state law that deputizes employees as private attorneys general to enforce California labor laws—and those laws, in turn, entitle employees to everything from minimum wage, to overtime, to breaks for meals. Under PAGA, if an employer violates California’s labor laws, an employee can bring an aggregated action against the employer—not just on her own behalf but also on behalf of her co-workers—and obtain civil penalties that would normally be recoverable only by the State. The result is a nifty California-specific whistleblower law that leverages an employee’s insider information about workplace violations while providing an attractive alternative to enforcement actions by resource-strapped state agencies.

Is that why PAGA is so important?

Yes. Because state agencies are resource-constrained, the ability of employees to bring suit is critical in ensuring compliance with state labor laws. Indeed, since its enactment in 2004, PAGA actions have steadily...

Read Full Story: https://law.stanford.edu/2022/07/06/viking-river-cruises-and-the-future-of-wo...