April 9, 2020

Brooks v. AmeriHome Mortgage Company, LLC (2020) 47 Cal.App.5th 624

California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) permits an “aggrieved employee” to bring a representative action on behalf of current or former employees to recover civil penalties for wage-related violations of California’s Labor Code.

Consistent with prior appellate decisions (see, e.g., Williams v. Superior Court (2015) 237 Cal.App.4th 642), the California Court of Appeal in Brooks held that the plaintiff—who had filed a single representative cause of action under PAGA—“cannot be compelled to separately arbitrate whether he was an aggrieved employee.”