Ruelas

(Re: Docket No. 8)

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS IN-PART

California’s Labor Code has long authorized its labor law enforcement agencies, departments and divisions to assess and. collect civil penalties for code violations by an employer. 1 A decade ago, the Governor signed the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”) to permit private, and not just public, enforcement. “An aggrieved employee [may] invoke a private civil action on behalf of himself or herself and other current or former employees to recover civil penalties if the LWDA [Labor and Workforce Development Agency] does not do so. The penalties collected in these private civil actions are to be distributed 75 percent to the estate and 25 percent to the aggrieved employee.” 2 PAGA also expanded the penalties for labor code violations and authorized private enforcement of these expanded penalties.

Invoking these private enforcement rights under PAGA, Plaintiff Noe Ruelas filed this case against Defendant Costco Wholesale Corporation and Does 1 through 10 (“Costco”) for giving him a defective final pay statement and failing to provide meal periods. 3 Costco now moves to dismiss. The court GRANTS the…