Legal Update 2025: Employer Action Required
Jan. 9, 2025, 10-11am PTThe California Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) authorizes aggrieved employees to file lawsuits to recover civil penalties on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the State of California for Labor Code violations.
In other words, PAGA allows current and former workers to “step into the shoes” of the state to enforce California’s Labor Code and recover substantial civil penalties. For many business owners, PAGA actions appear like wage and hour class actions, but there are significant differences. California courts have found that class action procedures do not apply to PAGA claims, that workers cannot waive representative PAGA claims through a pre-dispute arbitration agreement, and that some PAGA plaintiffs can bring claims based on alleged violations they never experienced.
So, it’s no wonder that claims under PAGA have become pervasive for California employers, putting their businesses in jeopardy as such claims can present significant financial exposure.
January 9, 2025, 10-11AM PT
Legal Update 2025: Employer Action Required
Jamie Orendac
Jaime Orendac, SPHR-CA, SHRM-SCP Human Resources Consultant
MyOHR, LLC https://myohr.com/
Phone: (408) 264-4710
Email: Jaime@MyOHR.com
Jaimie Orendac is the owner of MyOHR and a seasoned HR professional with over 20 years of experience. As a true HR generalist, Jaime provides a wide variety of Human Resources services for companies as a cost-effective alternative to staffing a full-time Human Resources department. Jaime advises on aspects of employment decisions including personnel policy, employee relations, job enrichment, job evaluation, compensation analysis, staff planning, and compliance to Federal/State regulations. She is described by clients as an “HR Dynamo” — using her resources and experience to achieve results beyond the ordinary.
Jaimie is also VP of Education for the California State Council of the Society of Human Resource Management “CalSHRM”.
Eileen Kennedy
Eileen P. Kennedy, Partner, Berliner Cohen, Labor & Employment Law
https://www.berliner.com/
Phone: (408) 286-5800
Email: Eileen.Kennedy@Berliner.com
Eileen Kennedy is a Labor & Employment Law attorney and a partner at Berliner Cohen. Her clients include a wide variety of companies from closely held to large, publicly traded firms in a broad range of industries from technology to manufacturing, medical and healthcare, automotive and professional services.
She defends her clients, their executives and managers in employment class action suits and Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”) cases involving the classification of workers, overtime pay, payment of wages, and meal and rest breaks, as well as single and multiple plaintiff unlawful harassment, discrimination, and retaliation cases.
Eileen also helps her clients develop practices and policies that comply with employment law in the areas of recruitment and hiring of employees, exemptions from overtime pay, compensation, leaves of absence, workplace accommodations, workplace privacy, discipline, and separation of employees.
She regularly provides counsel to companies on employment issues in mergers and acquisitions and to executives on employment transitions. In addition, she represents businesses in audits and actions brought by the U.S. Department of Labor, the California Labor Commissioner, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. And she successfully defends companies and negotiates settlements in Americans with Disabilities Act and California disability access cases, specifically with respect to allegedly physical access barriers and non-compliant websites, as well as businesses sued for allegedly violating federal and California fair housing laws.
