Court of Appeal Affirms Aggrieved Employees' Ability to Bring "Headless" PAGA Actions

In CRST Expedited, Inc. v. Superior Court, 2025 WL 1874891 (filed July 7, 2025), the Court of Appeal confirmed that section 2699.3 of the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (the "PAGA"), which states that any provision of the Labor Code “that provides for a civil penalty to be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency ... for a violation of this code, may, as an alternative, be recovered through a civil action brought by an aggrieved employee on behalf of himself or herself and other current or former employees pursuant to the procedures specified in Section 2699.3,” (§ 2699, former subd. (a), italics added) allows an aggrieved employee to bring a lawsuit that seeks to recover civil penalties imposed for Labor Code violations suffered only by other employees. As a practical matter, this ruling confirms that aggrieved employees can avoid arbitration of their individual PAGA claims, and the delays and potential risks associated with the arbitration, and proceed directly to the prosecution of the representative claims on behalf of the other aggrieved employees.