Practice area
California Class Action and PAGA Lawyers
Wage violations come from payroll settings and company policy, not individual mistakes. A rounding rule, an auto-deducted lunch, or a bonus left out of the overtime rate hits everyone on the same system.
That is how one employee’s $4,000 claim becomes a company-wide case worth six or seven figures, which is what actually forces change. Employee side only, statewide, on contingency, so there is no fee unless we win.
The Clock Is Brutal: One Year Plus 65 Days
PAGA penalties reach back 1 year from the LWDA notice. You file that notice online with a $75 fee, then wait 65 days before suing. Every month of delay erases a month of penalties off the back of the claim.
The underlying wage claims run 3 years, or 4 through a UCL claim.
What Is PAGA?
The Private Attorneys General Act, at Labor Code section 2698 and following, deputizes one aggrieved employee to recover civil penalties for Labor Code violations on behalf of the state and all affected coworkers.
Under the 2024 reform, 35% of penalties go to employees and 65% to the state through the LWDA, up from the old 25/75 split. That applies to notices filed on or after June 19, 2024 under AB 2288 and SB 92.
Penalties stack per employee, per pay period, which is why the numbers get large fast. One distinction matters: PAGA recovers civil penalties, which are separate from the unpaid wages themselves. Those travel through a class action or an individual claim.
How PAGA Penalty Math Works After the 2024 Reform
- Default penalty: $100 per aggrieved employee per pay period. The $200 rate now applies only where an agency or court found a violation within the past 5 years, or a court finds the conduct malicious, fraudulent, or oppressive.
- Reduced penalties: $25 per pay period for a wage statement defect where the employee could still determine the required information. $50 where the violation spanned under 30 days or four consecutive pay periods.
- Weekly payroll adjustment: employers on weekly pay periods get penalties cut in half, an anti-windfall rule.
- Compliance caps: 15% of the penalty if the employer took all reasonable steps toward compliance before the notice or a records request. 30% if it took all reasonable steps to fix course within 60 days after notice.
A Worked Example, Illustrative Only
50 employees, biweekly payroll at 26 pay periods, meal period violations for a full year. That is 50 × 26 × $100 = $130,000. Employees share $45,500 at 35%.
If the employer proves it took all reasonable steps before the notice, the 15% cap drops exposure to $19,500.
Note the reform’s limits on derivative stacking. There are no automatic add-on penalties for waiting time or wage statement violations that merely ride the underlying claim, absent willful or knowing conduct.
Who Can File? The New Standing Rules
You must have personally experienced each Labor Code violation you assert, within the one-year penalty period. The pre-reform strategy, where one violation unlocked every claim, is gone.
Practically, your own pay stubs and time records define the case you can bring, which makes early document collection decisive.
Your “aggrieved employee” status survives arbitration of your individual claim.
PAGA or Class Action, Which Fits Your Case?
| Class action | PAGA | |
|---|---|---|
| What you recover | Unpaid wages, interest, and statutory penalties for the class | Civil penalties, 35% to employees |
| Certification | Must satisfy community-of-interest requirements under CCP 382 | No certification step, though courts can limit unmanageable claims |
| Arbitration | Individual claims can be pushed to arbitration | Representative PAGA claims cannot be waived outright |
| Reach-back | 3 to 4 years | 1 year of penalties |
Bottom line: strong cases plead them together, with wages through the class claim and penalties through PAGA.
What Violations Drive These Cases?
- Meal and rest break premiums under Labor Code 226.7. Run the break penalty calculator.
- Unpaid overtime and regular-rate errors. Run the overtime calculator.
- Off-the-clock work and rounding.
- Wage statement defects under Labor Code 226.
- Waiting time penalties under Labor Code 203. Run the waiting time calculator.
- Expense reimbursement under Labor Code 2802.
- Misclassification as exempt from overtime, or as a contractor.
The wage and hour child pages for each of these are not built yet, so they are listed without links. See the wage and hour hub.
What Happens After I Come Forward?
A confidential review of your pay records, an LWDA notice drafted and filed, the 65-day window, filing in court, records and data discovery, then resolution or trial.
You are protected from retaliation under Labor Code 98.6 and 1102.5. See retaliation.
Honestly though: representative cases run longer than individual ones, and months of quiet stretches are normal.
What to Do Right Now
- Download or photograph a year of pay stubs tonight. Portal access ends at termination.
- Save your timekeeping records, schedules, and the employee handbook.
- Write down your daily reality: when breaks happened and when they did not, and what work happened off the clock.
- Note the names of coworkers on the same system. You do not need to recruit anyone.
- Do not sign an arbitration agreement update or a severance without review.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is PAGA Still Worth Filing After the Reform?
Yes. The employee share rose to 35%, and penalties still stack per pay period. Honestly, the caps do reward genuinely compliant employers.
Do My Coworkers Have to Join?
No. One aggrieved employee represents the group, and coworkers can stay anonymous bystanders.
Can I Be Fired for Filing?
Retaliation is separately illegal, with its own remedies. See retaliation.
What Does It Cost Me?
Contingency. Fees come from the recovery. See how our fees work.
I signed an arbitration agreement. Am I stuck?
Your individual claim may go to arbitration, but the representative PAGA claim survives. See forced arbitration.
How Much Will I Personally Get?
It depends on your pay periods and violations. A small illustrative example is the best guide until we see your records.
What Is an LWDA Notice?
The required online filing that starts the 65-day clock, filed by counsel with the facts and legal theories.
How Long Does a Case Take?
Honestly, 1 to 3 years. See the case timeline.
Employment Law Resources
- California LWDA, PAGA and the 2024 reforms under AB 2288 and SB 92: labor.ca.gov
- Labor Code 2699, PAGA penalties as amended: leginfo
- Labor Code 2699.3, LWDA notice, fee and cure procedures: leginfo
- Code of Civil Procedure 382, class actions: leginfo
Tell Us What Happened
One business day for a response. You pay nothing unless we win.