Opinion ID: 2844019
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Summary Judgment on PAGA Claim

Text: Alcantar also contends that the district court erred in ruling that Hobart was entitled to summary judgment on Alcantar’s PAGA claim because the letter in which Alcantar disclosed his allegations against Hobart did not contain sufficient facts to comply with the statute’s notice requirements. PAGA allows an employee to bring an action against an employer to recover civil penalties for violations of the California Labor Code. Cal. Lab. Code § 2699(a). First, however, the employee must give “written notice by certified mail to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and the employer of the specific provisions of [the California Labor Code] alleged to have been violated, including the facts and theories to support the alleged violation.” Cal. Lab. Code § 2699.3(a)(1). ITW and Hobart argue that the letter Alcantar sent them and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency does not include sufficient facts or theories.3 We agree. Alcantar’s letter is a series of legal conclusions: Our offices have been retained by Joseluis Alcantara [sic] (Plaintiff). Plaintiff is a former employee of ITW Food Equipment 3 Alcantar asks us not to reach this issue, arguing that Hobart and ITW waived this affirmative defense or, in the alternative, that it was insufficiently pleaded. We have no difficulty concluding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding the defense preserved. Hobart and ITW asserted in their responsive pleading that Alcantar “failed to satisfy the jurisdictional prerequisites mandated by California Labor Code Sections 2698, et seq.” 20 ALCANTAR V. HOBART SERVICE Group, LLC aka Hobart Service (Defendant). Plaintiff contends that Defendant (1) failed to pay wages for all time worked; (2) failed to pay overtime wages for overtime worked; (3) failed to include the extra compensation required by California Labor Code section 1194 in the regular rate of pay when computing overtime compensation, thereby failing to pay Plaintiff and those who earned additional compensation for all overtime wages due; (4) failed to provide accurate wage statements to employees as required by California Labor Code section 226; (5) failed to provide reimbursement for work related expenses as required by Labor Code § 2802; and, (6) failed to provide off-duty meal periods and to pay compensation for work without off-duty meal periods to its California employees in violation of California Labor Code sections 226.7 and 512, and applicable Industrial Welfare Commission orders. Said conduct, in addition to the forgoing, violated each Labor Code section as set forth in California Labor Code section 2699.5. The only facts or theories that could be read into this letter are those implied by the claimed violations of specific sections of the California Labor Code—that Hobart failed to pay wages for time worked, failed to pay overtime wages for overtime worked, failed to include the extra compensation required by § 1194 in the regular rate of pay when computing overtime compensation, and so on. This is insufficient. ALCANTAR V. HOBART SERVICE 21 Section 2699.3(a)(1) was adopted as part of an amendment to PAGA, intended to cure perceived abuses of the Act. As the California Court of Appeal observed, The Senate floor analysis stated “[the amendment] improves [the Act] by allowing the Labor Agency to act first on more serious violations such as wage and hour violations and give employers an opportunity to cure less ‘serious’ violations. The bill protects businesses from shakedown lawsuits, yet ensures that labor laws protecting California’s working men and women are enforced— either through the Labor Agency or through the courts.” Dunlap v. Superior Court, 142 Cal. App. 4th 330, 338–39, 47 Cal. Rptr. 3d 614 (2006) (quoting Calif. S. Rules Comm., Off. of S. Floor Analyses, Bill Analysis for SB1809, at 5–6 (Aug. 27, 2004)). Plaintiff’s letter—a string of legal conclusions with no factual allegations or theories of liability to support them—is insufficient to allow the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to intelligently assess the seriousness of the alleged violations. Neither does it provide sufficient information to permit the employer to determine what policies or practices are being complained of so as to know whether to fold or fight. Thus, we affirm. This conclusion is consistent with our unpublished opinion in Archila v. KFC U.S. Properties, Inc., 420 F. App’x 667, 669 (9th Cir. 2011), in which we affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a PAGA claim, observing that “none of the materials Archila submitted to KFC or the LWDA contain ‘facts and theories’ to support his allegations” and the demand letter “merely lists several California Labor Code 22 ALCANTAR V. HOBART SERVICE provisions Archila alleges KFC violated and requests that KFC conduct an investigation.” See also Amey v. Cinemark USA Inc., No. 13-CV-05669, 2015 WL 2251504, at –14 (N.D. Cal. May 13, 2015); Soto v. Castlerock Farming & Transp. Inc., No. CIV-F-09-0701, 2012 WL 1292519, at –8 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 16, 2012).