PAGA is good for employees and employers

Our country is one created with a system of checks and balances. The Private Attorneys General Act is the most recent incarnation of that system. ["Employers bring PAGA lawsuit," Jan. 8, 2018.] In order to police California employers at no cost to the state, the Legislature passed PAGA whereby private citizens could prosecute labor code violations. In fact, to better fund the state and thereby reduce the citizens' tax burden, 75 percent of all funds collected from PAGA prosecutions go to the state.

To date PAGA has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars going to the state. Employers in California know they cannot cheat to compete because, as a result of PAGA, California has the most robust enforcement of applicable labor laws in the country.

As part of this PAGA paradigm, California also benefits from an exceptional employment bar representing both employers and employees, which commands compliance with California labor laws under the very real potential of prosecution under PAGA for noncompliance. As compliance with the law at every level is a balancing of fear and greed, the fear of PAGA enforcement has at the employer level reduced the greed and made the job of the employer's bar that also seeks compliance with the labor laws much easier.

The bottom line being that PAGA should not only be applauded for helping to make California the state where every company has the chance to succeed on an even playing field, but also should be recognized as the new paradigm for better enforcement of our environmental laws, and our health and safety laws. Our Supreme Court in Iskanian got it right in noting that: "The general intent of PAGA is to allow employees to pursue civil penalties through the legal system when the LWDA and related state agencies do not have the resources to do so, with a goal of increasing the deterrent effect of the civil penalties and compliance with labor laws."