Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA)

For all PAGA notices, responses, court complaints, settlements, and orders, visit the PAGA filing site.

Filing Fees

A filing fee of $75 is required for a new PAGA claim notice and any initial employer response [cure or other response] to a new PAGA claim notice at the time of submission.

Filing fees must be paid online via Mastercard or Visa. No other payments will be accepted via Mastercard or Visa.

Note: Parties claiming in forma pauperis status should fill out a Confidential Request to Waive Court Fees (Judicial Council Court Form FW-001) or similar form and submit it online with the notice or response to which it applies.

Penalty Payments

Penalty payments must be paid by check, made out to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), and sent by mail to the address indicated below. The check for penalty payments must be accompanied either by a copy of the order or judgment awarding the penalties or by other documentation identifying the court case and parties to which the payment applies.

Department of Industrial Relations
Accounting Unit
455 Golden Gate Avenue, 10th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102

PAGA Procedures and Deadlines

• The PAGA statute provides LWDA with limited time frames within which to review a notice or investigate and cite an employer for alleged violations before an aggrieved employee may file suit. Although the statute directs LWDA to send a notice when it decides not to investigate a notice or issue a citation, the statute also authorizes the aggrieved employee to file suit if the LWDA sends no notification within specified time limits. Ordinarily you will not hear anything from LWDA about your PAGA claim unless a determination is made to investigate a notice or otherwise become involved in the case.
• The PAGA statute does not require parties to prove affirmatively that documents were received by LWDA. The statute only requires proof that items were mailed or submitted in the required manner. Confirmation that LWDA received previously-submitted items need not and should not be requested unless it becomes a contested issue in the case.
• PAGA notices received by LWDA are public records and subject to disclosure to any member of the public, with the exception of specific items (such as fee waiver requests) that the law requires to be kept confidential. Past records are also subject to being destroyed, in accordance with agency policies, after the passage of time or when no longer relevant to a pending matter.

Questions or Public Records Act requests for PAGA notices and related records can be submitted directly to PAGAinfo@dir.ca.gov.