Today, the California Supreme Court issued a ruling in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC regarding the enforceability of class action waivers in arbitration agreements. In upholding class action waivers in arbitration agreements, the Supreme Court explained in the introduction of the opinion:

The question is whether a state’s refusal to enforce such a waiver on grounds of public policy or unconscionability is preempted by the FAA. We conclude that it is and that our holding to the contrary in Gentry v. Superior Court (2007) 42 Cal.4th 443 (Gentry) has been abrogated by recent United States Supreme Court precedent. We further reject the arguments that the class action waiver at issue here is unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act and that the employer in this case waived its right to arbitrate by withdrawing its motion to compel arbitration after Gentry.

When asserting a Labor Code claim in connection with an Unfair Competition Law claim (Business and Professions Code section 17200), the statute of limitations extends back four years. Today’s holding upholds arbitration agreements entered into between employers and employees barring employees from brining any claims on a class wide basis as long as the underlying arbitration agreement is enforceable under California law.

In addition, the Supreme Court reviewed whether an employer could have an employee waive his ability to bring a representative action under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). PAGA is a Labor Code provision that permits aggrieved employees to recover civil penalties that are only recoverable by the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) and the Labor Commissioner. PAGA expands the scope of penalties available through wage and hour lawsuits. In holding that arbitration agreements could not limit an employee’s right from bringing a representative PAGA claim, the Court explained:

The employee also sought to bring a representative action under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) (Lab. Code, § 2698 et seq.). This statute authorizes an employee to bring an action for civil penalties on behalf of the state against his or her employer for Labor Code violations committed against the employee and fellow employees, with most of the proceeds of that litigation going to the state. As explained below, we conclude that an arbitration agreement requiring an employee as a condition of employment to give up the right to bring representative PAGA actions in any forum is contrary to public policy. In addition, we conclude that the FAA’s goal of promoting arbitration as a means of private dispute resolution does not preclude our Legislature from deputizing employees to prosecute Labor Code violations on the state’s behalf. Therefore, the FAA does not preempt a state law that prohibits waiver of PAGA representative actions in an employment contract.

Because PAGA claims seek to recover penalties, a one year statute of limitations applies. Therefore, even if employers have a class action waiver in an arbitration agreement entered into with an employee, the employee may still assert a representative PAGA action to recover appropriate penalties with a one year statute of limitations on behalf of all aggrieved employees. PAGA is sometimes referred to as the “bounty-hunter law” because it allows a plaintiff to recover these civil penalties that were only recoverable by the Labor Commissioner, but it requires that the plaintiff provide 75% of the civil penalties recovered to the LWDA and the remaining 25% to the aggrieved employees. In a previous post, I’ve written about PAGA claims and what to do in response to receiving a PAGA notice. The California Supreme Court’s ruling in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC can be downloaded here (Word).  This is an initial summary of the holding, and I’ll write more about the case as I’ve had more time to review the opinion in more detail.