Lizbeth Balderas was a Fresh Start Harvesting, Inc employee. In June 2022, she filed a complaint for civil penalties for violations of the California Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) (Lab. Code, § 2698 et seq.) on behalf of herself and 500 other current and former employees of defendant Fresh Start Harvesting, Inc

In her lawsuit she alleged, “Ms. Balderas is not suing in her individual capacity; she is proceeding herein solely under the PAGA, on behalf of the State of California for all aggrieved employees, including herself and other aggrieved employees.”

Balderas claimed that Fresh Start did not provide employees with required meal break periods and rest periods, and that Fresh Start provided inaccurate wage statements, made untimely wage payments, and failed to pay wages at termination. Fresh Start filed a motion to compel arbitration.

Fresh Start filed a motion to compel arbitration.

On its own motion, the trial court gave notice of its intent to strike Balderas’s complaint. It said because she had not filed an individual action seeking PAGA relief for herself, she lacked standing to pursue a “non-individual” or representative PAGA action on behalf of other employees.

The trial court ruled Balderas lacked standing to bring a representative PAGA action on behalf of other employees because she did not allege “an individual claim” in the action. The Court of Appeal reversed in the published case of Balderas v. Fresh Start Harvesting, Inc. -B326759 (April 2024).

The Court of Appeal said that PAGA is a remedial statute intended to protect employees from employer misconduct. Remedial statutes must be broadly interpreted to achieve the legislative goals. (In re Delila D. (2023) 93 Cal.App.5th 953, 974.) PAGA provisions must be interpreted broadly to protect employees. (Adolph v. Uber Technologies, Inc., supra, 14 Cal.5th at p. 1122.)

Class or representative PAGA actions play an important function in enforcing [the Labor Code] by permitting employees . . . a relatively inexpensive way to resolve their disputes about unlawful employer conduct. (Piplack v. In-N-Out Burgers (2023) 88 Cal.App.5th 1281- 1286.)

The statutory goal is furthered by extending broad standing to aggrieved employees that does not depend on the viability or strength of a plaintiff’s individual PAGA claim. In fact, the inability for an employee to pursue an individual PAGA claim does not prevent that employee from filing a representative PAGA action. California courts have consistently held that ” ‘ [p]aring away the plaintiff’s individual claims’ ” for one reason or another, ” ‘does not deprive the plaintiff of standing to pursue representative claims under PAGA.’ ” (Adolph v. Uber Technologies, Inc. (2023) 14 Cal.5th 1104 – 1122.)

These broad-standing policies that allow employees the freedom to bring representative PAGA actions to challenge unfair employer policies had not been questioned until 2022 when the United State Supreme Court made some observations about PAGA standing that conflicted with what the California Legislature intended.

In Viking River Cruises v. Moriana (2022) _ U.S. _ [213 L.Ed.2d 179, 200-201] (Viking River), the United States Supreme Court wrote, “Under PAGA’s standing requirement, a plaintiff can maintain non-individual PAGA claims in an action only by virtue of also maintaining an individual claim in that action.” (Italics added.) “When an employee’s own dispute is pared away from a PAGA action, the employee is no different from a member of the general public, and PAGA does not allow such persons to maintain suit.” (Ibid., italics added.)

In reliance on this language, the trial court struck Balderas’s “non-individual” representative PAGA action. It noted that in her complaint Balderas alleged, “Ms. Balderas is not suing in her individual capacity; she is proceeding herein solely under the PAGA, on behalf of the State of California for all aggrieved employees, including herself and other aggrieved employees” of Fresh Start. Noting that she did not file her own individual PAGA claim, the court found under Viking River she could not bring this representative PAGA action for penalties.

In Adolph v. Uber Technologies, Inc., supra, 14 Cal.5th at page 1119, our Supreme Court held Viking River was incorrect on PAGA standing and its decision on that issue may not be followed by California courts. The court wrote, “Because ‘[t]he highest court of each State . . . remains “the final arbiter of what is state law”  (Montana v. Wyoming (2011) 563 U.S. 368, 378, fn. 5 [179 L.Ed.2d 799]), we are not bound by the high court’s interpretation of California law.”

The Adolph court concluded that the Viking River requirement of having to file an individual PAGA cause of action to have standing to file a representative PAGA suit was incorrect. There are only two requirements for PAGA standing. “The plaintiff must allege that he or she is (1) ‘someone “who was employed by the alleged violator” and (2) someone “against whom one or more of the alleged violations was committed.”   (Adolph v. Uber Technologies, Inc., supra, 14 Cal.5th at p. 1120.)

Balderas met the standing requirements.The order striking the pleading is reversed. Costs on appeal are awarded to appellant.