Khan v. Dunn-Edwards Corp., 19 Cal. App. 5th 804 (2018)
Hamid H. Khan brought this lawsuit against his former employer pursuant to the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”) based on the fact that his final paycheck (in contrast to all other wage statements he had received) did not include the start date for the applicable pay period. Khan purported to sue on behalf of himself and others similarly situated. After the lawsuit was already pending, Khan provided Dunn-Edwards’ counsel and the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (“LWDA”) with notice of his own individual PAGA claim. The trial court granted Dunn-Edwards’ summary judgment motion on the ground that Khan’s notice to the LWDA was insufficient. The Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that “[b]ecause his notice expressly applied only to [Khan], it failed to give the [LWDA] an adequate opportunity to decide whether to allocate resources to investigate Khan’s representative action. Because Khan referred only to himself, the agency may have determined that no investigation was warranted.” The Court further held that Khan could not proceed with an individual PAGA claim because he had dismissed his individual claims and because “a PAGA action is only a representative action.” See also Kim v. Reins Int’l Cal., Inc., 18 Cal. App. 5th 1052 (2017) (employee who accepted offer to settle his individual claims is no longer an “aggrieved employee” who has standing to assert a PAGA claim on behalf of other employees).
