Aguilera

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Operative Complaint On March 15, 2021, Aguilera initiated, in the Merced County Superior Court, the instant matter against Dole as a class action, asserting various wage and hour claims. Aguilera thereafter abandoned the class action in light of “the existence of an [applicable] arbitration agreement containing a class action waiver” that precluded class claims. On May 24, 2021, Aguilera filed a first amended complaint (complaint) against Dole (and unspecified Doe defendants) under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA), which allows an “aggrieved employee” to recover civil penalties for Labor Code violations committed by an employer. (Lab. Code, §§ 2698, 2699, subd. (a).) More specifically, the complaint, which was filed on behalf of Aguilera “as an aggrieved employee” as well as “all other aggrieved employees,” sought civil penalties for alleged violations by Dole of the wage and hour provisions of the Labor Code. The complaint alleged, among other things: “[p]laintiff and other non-party [a]ggrieved [e]mployees … were not paid for all hours worked because all hours worked were not recorded”; plaintiff and other…