Flores

ORDER REGARDING APPROVAL OF SETTLEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL ACT OF 2004

The parties jointly ask the Court to approve the settlement of plaintiffs’ claims under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (“PAGA” or “the Act”), see Cal. Lab. Code § 2698 et seq. The Court has, to the extent possible, reviewed the parties’ motion and concludes that their settlement provides adequate relief consistent with the public interest. The Court therefore APPROVES the PAGA settlement, as modified below. But PAGA has grown in significance under California law, and further growth looms on the horizon. The Court therefore reviews some important issues here.

First, Section 2699(l)(2) of the California Labor Code says that the “court shall review and approve any settlement of any civil action filed” under PAGA. But aside from that bland mandate, the Act is surprisingly short on specifics. What, then, is the appropriate standard for approval of such a settlement? The parties in this case were at a loss to provide any particulars. And what’s worse, neither the California legislature, nor the California Supreme Court, nor the California Courts of Appeal, nor the California…