Juarez

*1199 A company provides its employees with a handbook setting forth its employment policies. The handbook is written in English and Spanish. The handbook requires arbitration of employment disputes and denies an employee's right to bring an action under the California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). The English version states that the denial of the right to bring a PAGA action is severable if such denial is found by a court to be unenforceable. The Spanish version provides that the PAGA denial is not severable.

In many cases the disparity between the treatment of PAGA claims may have no consequences. But under the facts here, there are consequences. The arbitration agreement is unenforceable.

Wash Depot Holdings, Inc. and Sparkling Image Corp. (collectively Wash Depot) appeal an order of the trial court denying a petition to compel arbitration of plaintiff's wage-and-hour-violations lawsuit. We affirm.

Arbitration has long been accepted as an efficient and cost-effective alternative to litigation. ( Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (2018) --- U.S. ----, [ 138 S.Ct. 1612 , 1621], --- L.Ed.2d ---- ; Pinnacle Museum Tower Assn. v. Pinnacle Market Development (US), LLC (2012) 55…