PAGA Employment Claims Legislative Update: Key Reforms, Standing, Penalties, Arbitration, Cure Provisions

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Course Details
- smart_display Format
Live Online with Live Q&A
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Employment and Workers Comp
- event Date
Thursday, November 13, 2025
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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Live Online
On Demand
This CLE webinar will advise employment counsel on claims brought under California's Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA), including violations giving rise to PAGA claims, the procedural requirements involved in bringing a PAGA action, potential defenses and employer cure provisions, and civil penalty exposure. The panel will examine key reforms from 2024 legislation, their impact on PAGA actions one year later, and offer best practices for preventing, defending, and resolving PAGA claims.
Faculty

Mr. Lebel represents employers in all aspects of employment litigation, including wage and hour, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, defamation, trade secrets, and breach of contract litigation, in both the single-plaintiff and class- and/or representative-action context, at both the trial and appellate level, and before administrative agencies. In addition to his litigation work, Mr. Lebel regularly advises clients regarding compliance with federal, state and local employment laws, and assists a variety of companies and financial firms in evaluating labor and employment issues in connection with corporate transactions. He also has experience assisting employers with sensitive employee investigations and trainings. Mr. Lebel also represents employers in connection with labor law matters, such as labor arbitrations and proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board.

Mr. Slowik represents employers in all aspects of litigation, with a particular emphasis in wage and hour class, collective, and representative actions, including those under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). He has defended dozens of class, collective, and representative actions in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout California and beyond. In addition to his core wage and hour work, Mr. Slowik has defended employers in single-plaintiff discrimination, harassment, and retaliation cases, and in labor arbitrations. He also regularly advises clients on a wide range of compliance issues and on employment issues arising in corporate transactions. Mr. Slowik has written extensively about PAGA on various platforms.
Description
PAGA authorizes current and former employees who claim to have experienced Labor Code violations to act as private attorneys general and to recover civil penalties on behalf of the state of California, themselves, and other current and former employees. For years, this has resulted in a steady stream of representative PAGA lawsuits each year, with hundreds of millions of dollars in potential penalties at stake.
On July 1, 2024, two bills significantly reforming PAGA were signed into law that affect PAGA claims filed on or after June 19, 2024, and include, among other changes, more stringent standing requirements, expanded employer cure provisions, and limits on PAGA penalties in certain situations. Counsel must be aware of the impact these new laws have had on PAGA actions and how the courts have been enforcing this legislation over the past year.
Counsel should also understand potential significant civil penalty exposure arising from PAGA claims as well as expanded opportunities to "cure" certain violations, PAGA's administrative exhaustion and more stringent standing requirements, and how to undertake (and limit) discovery in potentially sprawling actions.
Listen as our authoritative panel discusses PAGA and the impact of the 2024 legislative reform. The panel will address hot topics in this ever-evolving area of the law and offer best practices for employers to mitigate risk and exposure to PAGA lawsuits.
Outline
I. Representative lawsuits under PAGA
A. Nature of PAGA
B. Pre-filing requirements
C. Potential PAGA plaintiffs and defendants
II. Recent legislative reforms to PAGA
III. Litigating PAGA actions
A. Effect of prior arbitration and settlement agreements
B. Scope of representative claims and manageability of PAGA actions
C. Discovery and other procedural issues in PAGA litigation
D. Potential damages
IV. Resolving PAGA claims
A. Evaluating potential liability/recovery
B. Unique settlement procedures
V. Practitioner takeaways
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- Recent changes to PAGA and their impact on counsel for employees and employers
- Unique pre-lawsuit exhaustion requirements for employees and cure procedures for employers
- Employee standing and the scope of their representative capacity
- The effect of arbitration and settlement agreements
- Common PAGA claims and litigation issues
- Evaluating penalty exposure and successfully resolving PAGA claims
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