Description
The New 4th edition of “California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Litigation and Compliance Manual” authored by Richard J. Simmons, Ryan J. Krueger and Tyler J. Johnson of Sheppard Mullin is now available.
PAGA, the “Sue Your Boss Law,” has resulted in costly litigation for thousands of California employers. In the new 4th edition (over 770 pages), Richard J. Simmons and his team provide an in-depth desk reference that helps employers manage PAGA risks, audit policies and practices, and defend claims. It is the most extensive and useful text on PAGA available and offers insights that are unavailable anywhere else.
Among the numerous topics addressed are the following:
- In-depth analysis of the 2024 PAGA Reform amendments
- The new “Cure” and “Early Case Resolution” provisions
- PAGA’s new penalty structure and penalty mitigation features
- Statistical insights that speak volumes
- Tools for reducing and avoiding penalties
- The most common PAGA claims and traps
- The state’s denunciation of cookie-cutter notices that hide facts and issues
- Distinctions between PAGA and class actions
- The role of arbitration agreements
- New strategies for challenging and limiting PAGA claims
- PAGA’s distinctions between civil penalties, statutory penalties, and wages
- Compliance strategies and checklists
- Critical new rules governing standing and “aggrieved employees”
- The failure of the 2024 amendments to prevent abusive lawsuits
- A comprehensive and understandable review of PAGA
- Finally, a desk book written by attorneys for employers that reveals PAGA’s dirty little secrets
- Audit checklists
- Incentives to comply with the spirit and the letter of the law
- PAGA’s new standing, and “aggrieved employee” standards
- Statute of limitations
- An in-depth analysis of pay stub claims
- New cases and enforcement agency developments
- The importance of compliance, internal audits and issue spotting
- The ability of courts to lower penalties
- The differences in litigating proposed class actions and PAGA cases
- The need to exhaust administrative remedies before litigating
- New LWDA’s opinions
- Dissecting common PAGA claims
- California Supreme Court’s seminal PAGA cases
- Defense strategies
- A section-by-section analysis of PAGA
- The most glaring flaws in PAGA reform
- Eye-opening PAGA statistics
- Dealing with boilerplate claims and template PAGA notices
- Litigation strategies and tactics
- Why shakedown lawsuits are so common
- PAGA’s one-sided attorneys’ fee provision
- California’s misguided decision to take 65% of PAGA recoveries
- Legislative developments
- PAGA’s limitations on the recovery certain types of relief and wages
- Settling PAGA cases
- New features regarding injunctive relief
- New cases addressing intervention, poaching, and defending multiple actions
- The rules encouraging “races” to judgments
- Why PAGA incentivizes the “settlement of claims”
- How PAGA reform has failed employees, businesses and the public
- Why plaintiffs string out and delay PAGA lawsuits
- Valuable appendices
Table Of Contents
PREFACE
CHAPTER 1 THE PRIVATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL ACT OF 2004
CHAPTER 2 OVERVIEW OF PAGA
CHAPTER 3 The 2024 PAGA REFORM PACKAGE
CHAPTER 4 PAGA’S EXHAUSTION, ADMINISTRATIVE AND PROCEDURAL STANDARDS
CHAPTER 5 REPRESENTATIVE ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS AND CLASS ACTIONS
CHAPTER 6 THE CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT’S VIEW OF PAGA
CHAPTER 7 ITEMIZED WAGE STATEMENT AND PAGA CLAIMS
CHAPTER 8 ARBITRATION OF PAGA CLAIMS
CHAPTER 9 LITIGATION CONSIDERATIONS
CHAPTER 10 REMEDIES
CHAPTER 11 DEFENSES IN PAGA LITIGATION
CHAPTER 12 PAGA’S CURE AND EARLY EVALUATION PROVISIONS
CHAPTER 13 SETTLEMENT OF LABOR CODE AND PAGA CLAIMS
CHAPTER 14 APPEALS
CHAPTER 15 COMPLIANCE AUDITS
CHAPTER 16 LABOR CODE CHECKLISTS AND SUMMARIES
CHAPTER 17 ADDITIONAL TARGET AREAS FOR AUDITS
CHAPTER 18 LEAVES OF ABSENCE AND TIME OFF RIGHTS
CHAPTER 19 POSTING AND NOTIFICATION OBLIGATIONS
About The Authors
Richard J. Simmons is a Partner in the law firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Los Angeles. He represents employers in various employment law matters involving litigation throughout the country and general advice regarding state and federal wage and hour laws, employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, employee discipline and termination, employee benefits, affirmative action, union representation proceedings, and arbitrations. Mr. Simmons received his B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar and graduated in the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. He received his J.D. from Berkeley Law at the University of California at Berkeley where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Industrial Relations Law Journal, now the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law.
Mr. Simmons argued the only case before the California Supreme Court that produced a victory for employers and business in 2018. He was recently recognized as the Labor and Employment Attorney of the Year by the Los Angeles Business Journal and was inducted into the Employment Lawyers Hall of Fame. He has lectured nationally on wage and hour, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, and other employment and labor relations matters. He is a member of the National Advisory Board to the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, published by Berkeley Law at the University of California at Berkeley. He was also appointed by the California Industrial Welfare Commission as a member of three Minimum Wage Boards for the State of California.
Ryan J. Krueger is a Partner with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in the firm’s Los Angeles office. He specializes in labor and employment matters on behalf of employers, including wage and hour violations, employment discrimination, wrongful termination and sexual harassment. Mr. Krueger has experience in all aspects of employment litigation, including brief writing and oral argument, taking and defending depositions, and negotiating settlements. He has also second chaired multiple trials and arbitrations, and argued before the California Court of Appeal. Mr. Krueger also regularly counsels employers regarding California and federal employment law issues.
Ryan is a co-author of the California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Litigation and Compliance Manual, a contributing author to the Employer’s Guide to COVID-19 and Emerging Workplace Issues and the ALERT Newsletter. He is a co-speaker at the Castle Publications’ Seminars as well as the Labor Law Update for Sheppard Mullin.
He received his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles and his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, with distinction. During law school, Mr. Krueger served as extern to the Honorable Morton Denlow, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He is admitted to practice in all California state courts, along with the United States District Court for the Central District of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Tyler J. Johnson is a Partner with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in the firm’s Los Angeles Office. Mr. Johnson represents employers in every stage of the litigation process, from prelitigation disputes to class certification hearings and trials. He represents businesses of every size, and has extensive experience in the healthcare, agricultural, fashion, and temporary staffing industries. Mr. Johnson defends employers against claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and has prevailed at trial in a pregnancy discrimination case. Tyler also routinely represents businesses in complex litigation, including proposed class actions and representative actions under the Private Attorneys General Act.
Mr. Johnson has defeated class certification in a number of cases and frequently obtains summary judgment for employers. Tyler is a co-author of the California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Litigation and Compliance Manual, and a contributing author to the ALERT Newsletter. He is also a co-speaker at the Castle Publications’ Seminars.
Tyler received his J.D. degree from the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law and his B.A. from the University of Maryland. Mr. Johnson served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
