The Supreme Court of California has rejected an interpretation of the state’s Private Attorney Generals Act (PAGA) by the U.S. Supreme Court, asserting that California courts rather than the U.S. Supreme Court have the ultimate authority to interpret state law. In Adolph v. Uber Technologies, S274671 (Cal. July 17, 2023), the California Supreme Court held that a PAGA case brought against an employer by a worker on behalf of himself and other workers can proceed even though the claim of the worker filing the lawsuit is subject to arbitration. In so ruling, the California court declined to follow the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Viking River Cruises, which found that an employee who was bound by an arbitration agreement to resolve her individual complaints lacked standing to bring a PAGA lawsuit on behalf of other employees.
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