You Can't Spell "Aggrieved Employees" Without An "I": PAGA Claims Cannot Be Headless

In such cases, the plaintiff seeks civil penalties for all allegedly aggrieved employees except themself. Thus, these actions seek to circumvent the obligation to arbitrate an employee's individual PAGA claim by abandoning it in favor of the representative claims that represent the real bounty. However, on December 30, 2024, the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District gave employers a belated holiday gift. In Leeper v. Shipt, Inc., the court concluded that "every PAGA action necessarily includes an individual PAGA claim" – i.e., a representative PAGA claim cannot exist without its individual companion.

On March 19, 2019, Plaintiff Christina Leeper ("Leeper") entered into an independent contractor agreement with Shipt, Inc. ("Shipt"), a subsidiary of Target Corporation ("Target"), as well as an arbitration agreement that required her to arbitrate any personal/individual claims. On March 14, 2024, Leeper filed a purported "representative" lawsuit against