It is frustrating to report a wage or labor violation and have it fall on deaf ears. The PAGA allows employees to come together as a group and ensure their employer is either required to correct the labor violations or pay restitution to the workers they harmed in the process. PAGA provides for penalties assessed each pay period with increasing severity, so if your employer continually refused to fix the problem, they will be penalized accordingly.

You can file a PAGA lawsuit for many different labor violations, including:

• Terminating an employee for lawful off-duty conduct
• Failing to furnish a pay statement
• Whistleblower retaliation
• Threatening to report someone’s citizenship or immigration status
• Unfair immigration-related hiring practices, such as requesting extra documents to prove work authorization
• Failing to pay workers no later than seven days after then end of a payroll period, including after termination or resignation
• Failing to pay employees on strike
• Payment with anything but actual wages
• Withholding wages to regain overpayments made by the employer
• Charging employees for accounting and check issuance fees
• Coercing employees to patronize their employer
• Failing to offer meal breaks
• Withholding workers’ compensation by arguing that the employee assumed the risks by working there

Our cutting-edge approach to law at Frontier helps us instantly access the laws as they apply to you so that we can immediately begin working to help you build an effective case. Most of our clients are not sure their employer has violated any laws—only that something feels wrong at work. Let our Los Angeles PAGA attorneys help you build a case and hold your employer accountable.

Fighting for Damage Compensation

Before you file a PAGA notice and have it delivered to your employer, your employment lawyer will likely request information from them. This means your employer will know there is legal action pending against them, and they are likely to begin countermeasures to avoid losing a lawsuit. The defendant company will probably object to your assertions that there should be an investigation into their employment practices, so you should be ready with concrete evidence for your claims.

Before filing a lawsuit, you should:

• Gather all necessary evidence, including pay statements as well as your own documented clock-in times and any claims made by your employer about how you will be paid
• Show why punitive damages are warranted
• Check for any time off work—such as disability or maternal leave—that could allow your employer to argue that you did not suffer grievances due to their unlawful practices
• Avoid posting about your case on social media as this can be used against you by your employer
• Enlist the help of an attorney as soon as possible

Unlawful employers make life more difficult for many people beyond just you. With a properly handled lawsuit, you can hold them accountable for their unfair practices and ensure the violations stop as quickly as possible.

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