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Distress signals: Cooperation agreements or mergers to the rescue in times of crisis?
The current volatile and unpredictable economic climate creates challenges for businesses.
United States | Publication | May 3, 2021
In an unpublished opinion issued this month, a California appeals court declared unenforceable Uber’s arbitration provision requiring drivers to waive the right to bring a collective action under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). At issue was an Uber agreement requiring its drivers to enter into before using the Uber App to pick up riders, and an arbitration provision within the agreement which required the drivers to waive any right to bring a PAGA representative action. Although PAGA applies only to “aggrieved employees,” the plaintiff contended that he and other drivers were employees who had been misclassified as independent contractors.
The court of appeals rejected Uber’s argument that the threshold question of whether the drivers were misclassified was arbitrable, notwithstanding the California Supreme Court’s ban on PAGA representative action waivers, following several prior court decisions on this subject. A PAGA claim is indivisible and belongs to the state, according to the court, with the private litigant stepping in the shoes of the state as a private attorney general. Therefore, employees may not be forced to arbitrate whether their claims fell within the parameters of PAGA before proceeding with a representative action. Bottom line: PAGA representative action claims are not in any fashion subject to arbitration, so employers must be prepared to deal with PAGA litigation.
Publication
The current volatile and unpredictable economic climate creates challenges for businesses.
Publication
Recent tariffs and other trade measures have transformed the international trade landscape, impacting almost every sector, region and business worldwide.
Publication
In mid-March 2025, Cognia Law and Norton Rose Fulbright’s Legal Operations Consulting team co-hosted a second roundtable event that brought together senior leaders, including GCs, COO and head of legal operations, from across the legal industry to discuss how to drive meaningful change within the legal ecosystem.
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