Bloomingdale’s v. Tanguilig
California law provides that an employment agreement may not force an employee to waive the right to bring representative claims pursuant to California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). In 2014, the California Court of Appeal below held that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not preempt this anti-waiver rule, and rejected defendant’s demand for arbitration of a supposed “individual” PAGA claim. The defendant then petitioned for review in the U.S. Supreme Court. The petition stated that the question presented by this case is whether the FAA “preempts a state-law rule that prohibits the enforcement of a pre-dispute arbitration agreement with respect to a dispute covered by the scope of that agreement unless the State consents.” Public Citizen served as co-counsel to oppose the petition for certiorari. The Supreme Court denied the petition.