I. The Explosion Of PAGA Notices According to data maintained by the California Department of Industrial Relations, the number of PAGA notices filed with the LWDA has increased exponentially over the past two decades. The number grew from 11 notices in 2006, to 1,606 in 2013, and then experienced three sizable jumps – to 4,530 in 2014, to 5,732 in 2018, to 7,780 in 2023, each coinciding with a significant shift in the legal landscape, as discussed below. From 2013 to 2014, employers saw the largest single year increase, from 1,605 notices in 2013 to 4,532 notices in 2014, an increase of 182%. The most significant drop in the past two decades occurred in 2022, when notices fell from 6,502 in 2021 to 5,817 in 2022, before their resurgence in 2023. In 2024, the notices topped 9,464.
The increase is a likely reaction to the growth of workplace arbitration, fueled by the availability of fee-shifting awards for attorneys’ fees. II. The PAGA As A Work-Around To Arbitration Although the proliferation of mandatory arbitration programs started as early as 1991 when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Gilmer, et al. v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp ., 500 U.S. 20 (1991), the movement did not gain steam until 2011, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, et al., 563 U.S. 333 (2011), and held that the FAA preempts state rules that stand “as an obstacle to the accomplishment of the FAA’s objectives,” and it did not peak until 2018 with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, et al ., 138 S. Ct. 1612 (2018), wherein the last hurdle to enforcement of class and collective action waivers was eliminated. As the adoption of arbitration programs gained popularity as a mechanism to contract around class and collective actions, the plaintiffs’ class action bar has identified work-arounds. The California Supreme Court cemented the PAGA as the frontrunner for generated employment-related claims with its 2014 decision in Iskanian, et al. v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles , 59 Cal.4th 348 (Cal. 2014), which seemingly immunized the
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© Duane Morris LLP 2025
Private Attorneys General Act Review – 2025
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