Legal Developments
Recent California employment-law developments in PAGA.
The Labor and Workforce Development Agency posted modified text for its proposed PAGA regulations, adding safeguards aimed at high-frequency and non-compliant notice filers, standardized notice forms, and settlement-review procedures. The comment period on the changes closes August 18, 2026.
The First District held that a furniture delivery driver who made intrastate retail deliveries was a transportation worker exempt from the FAA—and that he retained standing to litigate non-individual PAGA claims in court.
The First District affirmed sanctions against a plaintiff’s firm for filing an opposition riddled with nonexistent citations and fabricated quotations evidently produced by generative AI—holding the firm forfeited its procedural challenges and that the sanctions were no abuse of discretion.
The Fourth District held that a trial court reducing PAGA civil penalties is not confined to a per-pay-period method—it may cut the maximum on a per-employee basis—and it affirmed a negative multiplier that trimmed the plaintiff’s fee award.
The Labor and Workforce Development Agency has proposed the first regulations implementing the Private Attorneys General Act, addressing PAGA notice content, administrative cure procedures, and settlement reporting under the 2024 reforms.
Senate Bill 809 creates the Construction Trucking Employer Amnesty Program and confirms that owning a vehicle does not, by itself, make a worker an independent contractor. The new law also addresses reimbursement for drivers who supply their own trucks.