Lopez v. Friant & Assocs., LLC, 15 Cal. App. 5th 773 (2017)

Eduardo Lopez filed this action seeking recovery of civil penalties under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”) for his employer’s failure to include the last four digits of its employees’ Social Security numbers or employee identification numbers on itemized wage statements in violation of Cal. Lab. Code § 226(a)(7). The employer brought a motion for summary judgment predicated upon its argument that Lopez had suffered no injury as a result of Friant’s “inadvertent wage statement error.” The trial court granted the motion based on the lack of evidence that the wage statement error was “knowing and intentional.” The Court of Appeal reversed, holding that the “knowing and intentional” requirement for proving damages under Section 226(e)(1) is inapplicable to a PAGA claim for recovery of civil penalties under Section 2699(f).