A California legislation has aided employees in suing the largest corporations in the world for the past 20 years. Uber Technologies Inc. drivers received a $20 million settlement, Google employees received $27 million for claimed free speech breaches, and Walmart Inc. paid $65 million to settle charges that its cashiers were not given seats.
Following pressure from some of California’s biggest business interests, who claim that a string of progressive policy victories in the state, such as raising the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 an hour and expanding paid sick days, are negatively impacting their bottom lines, Gov. Gavin Newsom is now discreetly supervising discussions about amending that law.
The goal of Newsom’s office is to broker a compromise for the Private Attorneys General Act by bringing labor and industry together.
According to those involved with the talks, Newsom’s office has invited the California Labor Federation and the influential California Chamber of Commerce together to work out a solution with the Private Attorneys General Act, or PAGA. Labor proponents see the rule as an example of worker protection, even if it has cost large and small firms $10 billion over the last ten years, according to one analysis.
There is a clock ticking on for the negotiators: The deadline for removing a proposal that would allow voters in California to overturn the legislation from the November ballot is June 27. The car dealership owners, Walmart and McDonald’s Corp., small businesses throughout the state, and the billionaire owner of the Wonderful Company, Stewart Resnick, are all part of the wide alliance that the Chamber of Commerce is negotiating on behalf of. More than $31 million was given by the business group to organizations supporting the ballot initiative, such as those involved in the signature-gathering and advertising campaigns.
