Complying with CA Labor Code

The best way to avoid liability for violations pursued under a PAGA suit is to ensure your business is in full compliance with the state’s Labor Code. This is not an easy feat given the complexities of understanding and interpreting the Labor Code and the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) Wage Orders as they relate to a particular employer’s business.

Many employers believe they are in complete compliance. But there are thousands of provisions in the California Labor Code, all of which can present an expensive trap for employers who are not careful. And because the Labor Code incorporates provisions from other codes, the list seems to keep on growing. One provision causing costly problems for employers is the suitable-seating provision of Section 14 of the IWC Wage Order 7-2001. Never heard of it? You are probably not alone.

PAGA Prevention Checklist

PAGA is clearly gaining strength as a tool for plaintiff’s employment attorneys. In light of this, employers should be preemptive in aggressively attempting to identify potential bases for claims against them of non-monetary Labor Code violations. Once identified, those issues should be quickly remedied. Otherwise, the first and last notice to an employer that a potentially costly problem exists will be in the demand letter sent on behalf of an aggrieved employee by his or her attorney.

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Get an Arbitration Agreement

A recent Supreme Court decision called Viking River Cruises provides California business owners with meaningful relief from frivolous lawsuits under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). If you have a valid agreement with your employees that requires workplace disputes to be handled through arbitration, the employees are precluded from bringing an action under PAGA. It’s the equivalent of a PAGA vaccine–an easy inoculation against greedy trial lawyers who might try to attack your company.

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