Recoverability Checker

The recoverability analysis asks three questions for each violation: (1) Is there a specific civil penalty statute? (2) If so, is it a penalty PAGA authorizes an aggrieved employee to recover? (3) If not, does the default penalty under section 2699(f) apply? Step one is the step most often skipped, including by defense counsel conceding a rate. Section 558(a) specifically provides a fifty-dollar initial and one-hundred-dollar subsequent civil penalty for a violation of any section of Part 2, Chapter 1 — the chapter that contains section 510 — so an overtime claim does not run on the section 2699(f)(2) default at all, and section 558's figures are that statute's own schedule rather than the reform's, so they do not move with the notice date. Section 226.7 sits in Part 1, outside that chapter, and does run on the default; the same meal-period conduct pleaded under section 512 would not. Meal and rest period premiums under section 226.7 are wages, not penalties (Kirby). Overtime premiums are wages. Waiting time penalties under section 203 are penalties but present complex recoverability questions depending on characterization.