Free tool · Estimator

California PAGA exposure estimator.

The Private Attorneys General Act multiplies wage-and-hour exposure dramatically. This tool models the headline number before the cure, allocation, and post-2024 reform adjustments.

The class

Aggrieved employees

Each employee whose work fits the violation pattern, regardless of whether they participated in the notice.

Pay periods covered

PAGA reaches one year before the LWDA notice. Bi-weekly = 26 periods/year; semi-monthly = 24; weekly = 52.

The violations

Meal / rest break violations$100 (initial) / $200 (subsequent) per pay period per aggrieved employee.
Wage statement (Lab. Code § 226) violationsStackable — every defective wage statement is a separate violation.
Overtime / minimum wage failuresUnderlying wage liability stacks on top of PAGA penalties — this estimator only models the PAGA portion.
Final-pay timing violations (§ 203)Triggers per separation event, not per pay period — modeled at half-multiplier as a rough average.
Independent-contractor misclassificationEach misclassified worker can produce multiple stacked violations per pay period.

Employer is curing within the notice windowPost-2024 reform allows substantial reduction when the cure is properly documented (modeled here as ~70% reduction).

Estimated PAGA exposure

$255,000

Initial pay period: $5,000
Subsequent pay periods: $250,000
Violation multiplier: 2×
Per aggrieved employee: $3,570

Allocation (post-2024 PAGA reform)

65% to LWDA, 35% to aggrieved employees (the 75/25 split applied pre-July-2024).

LWDA (Labor & Workforce Development Agency)

65%

$165,750

Aggrieved employees

35%

$89,250

This is a headline-number estimator. It doesn’t model stacking across multiple violation types within a pay period, manageability reductions, the 2024 reform’s expanded cure-credit reductions for proactive compliance, or the underlying wage-and-hour liability that runs alongside PAGA penalties.

Employment claims defense ABC test classification wizard

Estimator only — exposure varies on the facts. The 2024 PAGA reforms changed the cure regime, manageability requirements, and the LWDA / aggrieved-employee allocation (formerly 75/25, now 65/35). Specific violation types have their own penalty rules. Think Legal, P.C. can run the analysis on the wage records and pay-period detail.

Got a PAGA notice?

The window to cure is short.

The 2024 reform expanded employer cure rights — but only if you act fast and document the cure properly. Talk to counsel before the LWDA notice period closes.

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