Whalley v. Wet Seal
Plaintiffs Lauren Whalley and Marysol Rosales filed a putative class action for the alleged failure by defendants The Wet Seal, Inc. and The Wet Seal Retail, Inc. to timely pay wages upon termination of employment, alleging violations of Labor Code sections 201 and 202, unfair competition (Bus. & Prof Code, § 17200 et seq.; UCL) and, by Rosales in a representative capacity, for civil penalties under the California Private Attorney General Act (Lab. Code, § 2699 et seq.; PAGA). Upon motion by defendants, the court ordered plaintiffs to arbitrate their individual claims and ruled their class and representative claims were barred.
On appeal plaintiffs raise five issues,[1] i.e., defendants waived their right to compel arbitration, Rosales’s arbitration agreement is unenforceable for lack of mutuality, the class claims are not barred because the agreements contained an implied agreement to arbitrate them, if the order compelling arbitration is affirmed, it must be on a classwide or representative basis, and the claim for injunctive relief for unfair competition cannot be arbitrated.
We conclude the PAGA cause of action cannot be arbitrated individually or arbitrated in a representative capacity and reverse that part of the order. The remainder of the order is affirmed.
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