New Law Will Prevent Unionized Custodians From Suing Their Employers

Certain unionized custodial employees will be exempt from suing their employers under a new California law that goes into effect January 1, 2022, JD Supra reports.

The law states that custodians covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement (CBA) will no longer be allowed to bring civil actions under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) if their CBA provides for: 

• Wages, hours of work, and working conditions of employees
• Premium wage rates for all overtime hours worked
• Grievance and binding arbitration procedures that authorizes the arbitrator to award otherwise available remedies for Labor Code violations
• Authorization of the labor union to pursue a grievance on behalf of employees.

In drafting the new law, SB 646, legislators acknowledge that PAGA is a costly and time-intensive process. The goal of the law is to incentivize collective bargaining and mandatory arbitration instead of enforcement by the courts.