Zakaryan

*664 The Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) deputizes individual employees to step *665 into the shoes of our state's labor enforcement agency and sue their employers for underpaid wages and *335 additional, statutorily prescribed amounts on behalf of themselves and their aggrieved coworkers. ( Lab. Code, § 2698 et seq. ) 1 In Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC (2014) 59 Cal.4th 348 , 382-392, 173 Cal.Rptr.3d 289 , 327 P.3d 129 ( Iskanian ), our Supreme Court held that individual employees cannot contractually agree to arbitrate their potential PAGA claims, but may still contractually agree to arbitrate their "individual damages claims." If an employee brings a solitary PAGA claim, may a trial court split that claim-that is, may the court send the employee to arbitration (when he has agreed to it) to recover his underpaid wages but retain jurisdiction to award the additional, statutorily prescribed amounts? Our sister courts are divided on the issue: Esparza v. KS Indus., L.P. (2017) 13 Cal.App.5th 1228 , 221 Cal.Rptr.3d 594 ( Esparza ) has sanctioned such an order, while Lawson v. ZB, N.A. (2017) 18 Cal.App.5th 705 , 227 Cal.Rptr.3d 613 ( Lawson…