Start counting from both the postmark and the arrival date, because the statute uses each. A PAGA notice is an employee’s letter to the state labor agency, sent to the employer by certified mail, and it’s the required first step before a PAGA lawsuit. Small employers get 33 days to propose a cure. Every employer gets 60 days to take steps that can cap penalties at 30 percent. Records made before and after the notice usually decide how large the case gets.
What is a PAGA notice, and why does it matter?
PAGA, the Private Attorneys General Act, lets an employee recover civil penalties for Labor Code violations on the State’s behalf. Most of it is paid to the State. Under Labor Code section 2699(m), penalties are split “65 percent to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency” and “35 percent to the aggrieved employees.” The employee’s lawyer also seeks fees, and section 2699(k)(1) says “Any employee who prevails in any action shall be entitled to an award of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.”
Before suing, the employee must send notice. Under section 2699.3(a)(1)(A), the employee or a representative “shall give written notice by online filing with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and by certified mail to the employer of the specific provisions of this code alleged to have been violated, including the facts and theories to support the alleged violation.” That letter is allegations, not a finding, but it sets the scope of any later lawsuit. Read it for the Labor Code sections it names and the job classifications and locations it describes.
PAGA changed in 2024. Under section 2699(v), the 2024 amendments apply “to a civil action brought on or after June 19, 2024,” except where the PAGA notice was filed before that date. The current text of section 2699.3, with the cure and early evaluation procedures, says it “shall become operative October 1, 2024.” A notice filed today falls under the new rules. If you’re still litigating a notice from early 2024 or before, check the filing date first, because the older penalty rules may govern it.
How long does an employer have after a PAGA notice arrives?
Several clocks run at once: 33 days for a small employer’s cure proposal, 60 days for the steps that can cap penalties (both covered below), and the 65-day agency period. For most wage and hour claims, the agency has 60 calendar days from the notice’s postmark to say it won’t investigate. Section 2699.3(c)(1)(D) provides that “Upon receipt of that notice or if no notice is provided within 65 calendar days of the postmark date of the notice given pursuant to subparagraph (A), the aggrieved employee may commence a civil action.” The LWDA’s PAGA FAQ says the Labor Commissioner’s Office “will notify both the employer and employee within 65 days of the PAGA notice” if it plans to investigate.
An employer doesn’t have to answer the notice. The LWDA FAQ says “An employer may, but is not required, to respond to an employee’s PAGA notice,” and section 2699.3(a)(1)(B) requires a $75 filing fee with “any employer response to that notice.” In our view, a bare written denial to the agency rarely changes much. The cure and reasonable-steps work is what the statute rewards.
Can an employer cure the violations in a PAGA notice?
Sometimes, and the answer depends on the employer’s size and the violation.
Employers with fewer than 100 employees. Under section 2699.3(c)(2)(A), “Within 33 days of receipt of the notice sent by the aggrieved employee or representative, an employer that employed fewer than 100 employees in total during the period covered by the notice may submit to the agency a confidential proposal to cure one or more of the alleged violations.” The agency may set a conference, and under section 2699.3(c)(2)(C) the employer then has to finish the cure “no more than 45 days after the conference” and give a sworn notification, “accompanied by a payroll audit and check register if the violation involves a payment obligation.” If the agency finds the violation cured, “the aggrieved employee may not proceed with a civil action” on it, though the employee can appeal that determination to the superior court.
There’s a catch in where this procedure sits. It’s in subdivision (c), which covers violations “other than those listed in Section 2699.5.” Section 2699.5 lists dozens of sections, including the final pay statutes, sections 201 through 203. The meal and rest period sections and the wage statement section aren’t on that list, and neither is the main overtime statute, section 510 (section 1198, which notices often cite alongside it, is on the list). So a small employer can usually propose a cure for the meal break claim in a notice, but not for the waiting time penalty claim that rides along with it.
Wage statement claims, any size. If the only violation an employer seeks to cure is under section 226, section 2699.3(c)(3)(A) lets it cure “within 33 calendar days of the postmark date of the notice,” with written notice to the employee and the agency.
Larger employers, after a lawsuit is filed. An employer that doesn’t qualify for the small-employer process, “upon being served with a summons and complaint,” may ask the court for an early evaluation conference and a stay “prior to or simultaneous with that defendant’s responsive pleading or other initial appearance,” according to section 2699.3(f)(1)(A). The court sets the conference “in no event later than 70 days after issuance of the order,” and an employer that has stated it will cure submits its cure plan within 21 days of the order. A late request may not get the statutory stay. A small employer whose cure proposal the agency rejects or doesn’t act on can also request a stay and early evaluation conference under section 2699.3(c)(2)(B).
Two limits apply to every cure. An employer can use the notice and cure provisions only once in a 12-month period for violations of the same provisions, under section 2699.3(d). And the statute protects a small employer that tries: under section 2699.3(c)(2)(E), “No cure or proposal to cure pursuant to this paragraph may be deemed an admission of liability by the employer that submitted the proposed cure.”
What does “cure” require an employer to pay?
More than the wages. Section 2699(d)(1) says an employee is made whole on a wage claim upon receiving “any owed unpaid wages due under the underlying statutes specified in the notice dating back three years from the date of the notice, plus 7 percent interest, any liquidated damages as required by statute, and reasonable lodestar attorney’s fees and costs to be determined by the agency or the court.” Under the same subdivision, the employer must also be “in compliance with the underlying statutes specified in the notice,” so a cure means fixing the policy going forward as well as paying back.
Where the amount is disputed, the statute lets the employer pay “amounts sufficient to cover any unpaid wages that the agency or court determine could reasonably be owed.” A cure built on real time punches and pay records is easier to defend than one built on estimates.
Which records can cap PAGA penalties at 15 or 30 percent?
This part of the 2024 reform rewards records that already exist.
Before the notice: under section 2699(g)(1), if the employer “has taken all reasonable steps to be in compliance with all provisions identified in the notice” before receiving it (or before a records request under sections 226, 432, or 1198.5), “the civil penalty that may be recovered in a civil action pursuant to this part shall not be more than 15 percent of the penalty sought.”
After the notice: under section 2699(h)(1), if “within 60 days after receiving the notice of violation” the employer “has taken all reasonable steps to prospectively be in compliance with all provisions identified in the notice,” the penalty “shall not be more than 30 percent of the penalty sought.”
The statute names the kinds of steps it means. For the post-notice cap, they may include taking action to initiate any of the following: “conduct an audit of the alleged violations and take action in response to the results of the audit, disseminate lawful written policies as to the alleged violations, train supervisors on applicable Labor Code and wage order compliance, or take appropriate corrective action with regard to supervisors.” It also says “The existence of a violation, despite the steps taken, is insufficient to establish that an employer failed to take all reasonable steps.” Neither cap applies where the higher $200 penalty under section 2699(f)(2)(B) is awarded. And under section 2699(e)(2), a court may exceed the caps if, on the facts, holding to them “would result in an award that is unjust, arbitrary and oppressive, or confiscatory.”
The two caps work with cure. Under section 2699(j), “An employer who satisfies subdivision (g) or (h) and cures a violation shall not be required to pay a civil penalty for that violation.” Other employers that cure pay “no more than fifteen dollars ($15) per employee per pay period” for the cured violations.
In our view, the 60-day cap is the most useful tool most employers have after a notice arrives, and it’s lost by waiting. A dated audit, a revised policy with a distribution record, and a supervisor training roster are the proof a court will want. Informal fixes with nothing written down won’t carry much weight.
How much can a PAGA claim cost?
PAGA penalties are counted per employee, per pay period. The table shows the main penalty rules in the current section 2699 and the defenses that answer them. All are “up to” amounts that a court can reduce.
| Rule | Where | Amount and conditions | What answers it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default civil penalty | § 2699(f)(2)(A) | Up to $100 per aggrieved employee per pay period, where no other penalty is specified | Merits defenses, plus the 15 or 30 percent caps |
| Isolated violations | § 2699(f)(2)(A)(ii) | $50 per aggrieved employee per pay period if the violation was an isolated, nonrecurring event lasting no longer than the lesser of 30 consecutive days or four consecutive pay periods | Payroll records showing when the problem started and stopped |
| Wage statement technical errors | § 2699(f)(2)(A)(i) | $25 per aggrieved employee per pay period for certain itemization errors where the employee could promptly and easily determine the accurate information from the wage statement alone | The wage statements themselves, and the any-size 226 cure |
| Higher penalty | § 2699(f)(2)(B) | $200 per aggrieved employee per pay period if a court or the agency found the policy unlawful within the prior five years, or a court finds the conduct malicious, fraudulent, or oppressive | Prior agency and court history. Neither cap applies |
| No stacking on derivative claims | § 2699(i) | No separate PAGA penalty for sections 201, 202, or 203 on top of the penalty for the underlying unpaid wage violation | Tie each derivative claim to its underlying claim |
| Weekly payroll | § 2699(o) | Penalty cut in half for employees paid weekly instead of biweekly or semimonthly | The pay schedule |
| Court’s discretion | § 2699(e)(2) | Court may award less than the maximum, or more than the 15 or 30 percent caps, where the result would otherwise be unjust, arbitrary and oppressive, or confiscatory | The facts of the case |
Standing was also narrowed. Under section 2699(c)(1), an “aggrieved employee” must have “personally suffered each of the violations alleged.” A notice naming violations the employee never experienced is open to challenge on that ground. A narrow exception lets certain nonprofit legal aid organizations bring actions for employees under the broader definition.
The agency’s PAGA rulemaking page shows proposed regulations noticed February 6, 2026, with modified text released August 3, 2026. The agency hasn’t adopted final regulations.
What to do in the first 60 days after a PAGA notice
The order matters, because some of these steps have their own deadlines:
- Put a litigation hold on payroll and timekeeping data, schedules, meal and rest period records, wage statements, the handbook and policy versions in effect during the notice period, and the emails and texts of the supervisors involved.
- Calendar day 33, day 60, and day 65 (the small-employer cure and the 60-day cap run from receipt, while the wage statement cure and the 65 days run from the postmark), and check for an arbitration agreement and an employment practices liability (EPLI) policy whose notice terms may already be running.
- Identify the supervisors and payroll staff who know how the practice worked, and make sure no one takes any action against the employee who sent the notice that could look like retaliation.
- Pull the documents behind each claim in the notice, starting with the time records and wage statements for the named job classifications, and commission a dated audit through counsel so the results and the fixes are recorded.
- Talk to a lawyer before filing a response or cure proposal, contacting the employee or the employee’s lawyer, or offering anything to settle.
The firm’s California wage and hour defense page describes how PAGA notices and wage claims are handled from the first letter onward.
PAGA notice questions employers ask
Is responding to a PAGA notice an admission of liability?
Not if it’s a small-employer cure proposal. Section 2699.3(c)(2)(E) says no cure or cure proposal “may be deemed an admission of liability” and treats a cure proposal as a confidential settlement communication under Evidence Code section 1152. Early evaluation conference submissions are also covered by Evidence Code section 1152 under section 2699.3(f)(10). A wage statement cure notice or a $75 response letter to the agency gets no such protection, so anything written should be drafted on the assumption the employee’s lawyer will read it.
Does paying the back wages end a PAGA case?
Not by itself. A completed cure under section 2699.3 requires the wages for the three years before the notice, 7 percent interest, any liquidated damages, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, and current compliance. Without an agency or court finding that the cure is adequate, the employee can still sue for penalties. Payments still matter, though: cured violations carry reduced penalties under section 2699(j), and if the agency approves a small employer’s cure and a court later finds that was an abuse of discretion, the amounts paid (other than penalties) are offset against the judgment.
What if we have 100 or more employees?
The 33-day cure proposal isn’t available, but two other tools are. The 30 percent cap under section 2699(h) applies to any employer that takes all reasonable steps within 60 days of the notice. And once served with a lawsuit, it can request a stay and early evaluation conference under section 2699.3(f) with its first response, then cure and narrow the case.
If your company has received a PAGA notice
If a PAGA notice has named your company over meal periods, overtime, or wage statements, the time records and the written policy usually decide how much of it is real. Rosenberger + Kawabata represents employers defending employment lawsuits and claims through its business litigation practice, including claims involving PAGA notices and wage and hour penalties. Contact Rosenberger + Kawabata online for a confidential consultation, or call (310) 894-6921.
Sources
The statutes are Labor Code section 2699, Labor Code section 2699.3, and Labor Code section 2699.5. The agency’s guidance is the LWDA PAGA FAQ, and the status of the proposed regulations is on the LWDA PAGA rulemaking page.
This post is general information about California and federal employment law as of November 5, 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Employment statutes, regulations, and court decisions change often, and the outcome of any claim depends on its facts. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.