Unions Cannot Sue Businesses in Overtime Cases Without Authorization
From May It Please The Court:Â
Under the Private Attorney General Act of 2004, which authorized employees to sue their employers for Labor Code violations such as alleged failure to pay overtime and for time spent working instead of taking meal and rest breaks, unions suffered a setback in a court ruling earlier this week. The PAGA is more commonly called the “Sue Your Boss” law and the “Bounty Hunter’s Statute.”
While employees can assign their claims to a union to sue on their own behalf, unions cannot step in to court on the employee’s behalf without permission. The employees have to bring suit in their own name or actively assign their claims to the union, according to the ruling.
It’s a significant procedural setback for unions, and protects employers from unsubstantiated threats of “automatic” class actions by unions. Perhaps not too surprising, with this opinion the courts have taken back their authority to determine when to certify class actions instead of allowing a union to represent all of an employer’s employees without having asked those employees first and obtained their permission.
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