California Top Court Tightens Deputy Power Under State Labor Law

California workers — deputized under a unique state law to enforce labor code, known as PAGA — can’t intervene in separate cases even if the cases overlap, the state’s top court ruled Thursday.

Allowing a Private Attorneys General Act plaintiff to intervene in an overlapping case wouldn’t be in line with the state legislature’s vision for PAGA, Justice Martin J. Jenkins wrote in a California Supreme Court opinion.

Undermining the plaintiff’s assertion that intervention is needed to “sniff out bad deals,” PAGA’s legislative history shows the legislature deemed the oversight of the court and California’s Labor & Workforce Development ...