Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-1573_8p6h.pdf
Page Number: 9.0

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

number of other violations as predicates for liability.  This 
mechanism  radically  expands  the  scope  of  PAGA  actions. 
The  default  penalties  set  by  PAGA  are  $100  for  each  ag-
grieved employee per pay period for the initial violation and 
$200 for each aggrieved employee per pay period for each
subsequent violation.  Cal. Lab. Code Ann. §2699(f )(2).  In-
dividually,  these  penalties  are  modest;  but  given  PAGA’s
additive dimension, low-value claims may easily be welded 
together into high-value suits. 

B 
Petitioner Viking River Cruises, Inc. (Viking), is a com-
pany that offers ocean and river cruises around the world. 
When respondent Angie Moriana was hired by Viking as a
sales  representative,  she  executed  an  agreement  to  arbi-
trate  any  dispute  arising  out  of  her  employment.  The 
agreement  contained  a  “Class  Action  Waiver”  providing
that in any arbitral proceeding, the parties could not bring 
any dispute as a class, collective, or representative PAGA
action.  It  also  contained  a  severability  clause  specifying 
that if the waiver was found invalid, any class, collective, 
representative, or PAGA action would presumptively be lit-
igated  in  court.  But  under  that  severability  clause, if  any 
“portion”  of  the  waiver  remained  valid,  it  would  be  “en-
forced in arbitration.” 

After  leaving  her  position  with  Viking,  Moriana  filed  a 
PAGA action against Viking in California court.  Her com-
plaint contained a claim that Viking had failed to provide
her  with  her  final  wages  within  72  hours,  as  required  by 
§§101–102 of the California Labor Code.  But the complaint 
also asserted a wide array of other code violations allegedly
sustained by other Viking employees, including violations
of  provisions  concerning  the  minimum  wage,  overtime,
meal  periods,  rest  periods,  timing  of  pay,  and  pay  state-
ments.  Viking  moved  to  compel  arbitration  of  Moriana’s 
“individual”  PAGA  claim—here  meaning  the  claim  that