Opinion | Justice Sotomayor’s Class-Motion Comfort Prize

PAGA is the bane of each employer in California. It lets staff stand in for the state Legal professional Basic and sue employers over minor and unintentional labor violations. Employees who prevail preserve 25% of the penalties in opposition to employers—a lot of which matches to trial legal professionals—and the state will get 75%.

Viking moved to arbitrate Ms. Moriana’s particular person declare and dismiss these she filed on behalf of Viking staff. The U.S. Supreme Courtroom in recent times has repeatedly affirmed that the Federal Arbitration Act broadly pre-empts inconsistent state legal guidelines, however California courts nonetheless dominated that Viking’s class-action waiver was unenforceable underneath PAGA.

At problem earlier than the Supreme Courtroom was whether or not PAGA might prohibit class-action waivers in employer arbitration agreements. The three liberal Justices joined 5 conservatives (with Justice

Clarence Thomas

within the dissent) in a slender choice that Viking might compel Ms. Moriana to arbitrate individually.

However the Courtroom additionally urged her claims on behalf of different staff might theoretically be severed and litigated in courtroom. The rub, as Justice

Samuel Alito

notes within the majority opinion, is that “PAGA offers no mechanism to allow a courtroom to adjudicate” class-wide claims as soon as a person’s declare has gone to arbitration.

Meaning present state legislation doesn’t let staff certain by class-action waivers sue employers on behalf of different staff. However Justice Sotomayor in a concurrence invitations the state Legislature “to switch the scope of statutory standing underneath PAGA inside state and federal constitutional limits.”

Translation: Democrats might amend state legislation to allow third events resembling unions to sue on behalf of staff. Trial legal professionals, unions and Democratic legislators pounced on her suggestion. Democratic state Sen.

Dave Cortese

mentioned he was “ready to creator laws to reply” to the Courtroom choice.

Trial legal professional

Shannon Liss-Riordan,

who sues gig corporations for a dwelling, informed the Legislature to “get busy.” Labor activist

Lorena Gonzalez

tweeted: “Effectively #CALeg- Justice Sotomayor simply handed big PAGA adjustments to you to switch the scope of statutory standing inside state & federal constitutional limits in Viking River. We’re right here to assist!” Little doubt.

The Courtroom’s Viking choice may very well be a pyrrhic victory for employers. It additionally appears to augur extra judicial pragmatism among the many three liberal Justices who joined the conservative majority on a slender ruling that lets unions and trial legal professionals dwell to struggle one other day. And struggle they’ll.