Mejia

*725 I.

INTRODUCTION

Defendants Merchants Building Maintenance, LLC and Merchants Building Maintenance Company (the MBM defendants) appeal from an order of the trial court denying their joint motion to compel arbitration. The MBM defendants moved to compel arbitration of a portion of plaintiff Loren Mejia's cause of action brought against them for various violations of the Labor Code under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) ( Lab. Code, 1 § 2698 et seq. ).

*726 Pursuant to PAGA, "an 'aggrieved employee' may bring a civil action personally and on behalf of other current or former employees to recover civil penalties for Labor Code violations. ( Lab. Code, § 2699, subd. (a).)" ( Arias v. Superior Court (2009) 46 Cal.4th 969 , 980, 95 Cal.Rptr.3d 588 , 209 P.3d 923 ( Arias ).) A PAGA claim "is not a dispute between an employer and an employee arising out of their contractual relationship. It is a dispute between an employer and the state , which alleges directly or through its agents-either the [Labor and Workforce Development] Agency or aggrieved employees-that the employer has violated the Labor Code." ( Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC (2014) 59…