Aaron Buckley Writes Bender’s California Labor & Employment Bulletin Article About Recent Decision by California Court of Appeal on PAGA Claim After Employment
Aaron Buckley, national vice chair of the Quarles & Brady Labor & Employment Practice Group, wrote an article for Bender’s California Labor & Employment Bulletin about a recent decision by the California Court of Appeal, which stated that a former employee is able to pursue a representative claim under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) even if more than a year has passed since their employment ended.
An excerpt:
The California Court of Appeal agreed with Osuna and revered, explaining that Labor Code section 2699, former subdivision (c) was “clear and unambiguous” and provided that to have standing as an aggrieved employee, a PAGA plaintiff need only be someone “who was employed by the alleged violator” and “against whom one or more of the alleged violations was committed.”15 The court pf appeal concluded that because the FAC alleged Osuna was employed by Spectrum for more than a decade and that he suffered the same Labor Code violations described in his representative PAGA claim, he was an aggrieved employee with PAGA standing.16
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Employers defending PAGA actions under the pre-amendment version of Labor Code section 2699 should keep a close eye on appellate decisions interpreting that statute. Fortunately, the new, post-amendment version of PAGA clearly and unequivocally required PAGA plaintiffs to provide notice of PAGA claims within one year of the violation(s) that affected them personally.26