A PAGA case under California's Private Attorneys General Act lets one worker seek civil penalties for Labor Code violations on behalf of affected coworkers. The penalty fund is split between the state and workers, then each worker's payment is set pro rata by qualifying pay periods. The state always takes the larger share. The exact share depends on the PAGA notice date, and court-approved fees come out before workers are paid.
Official resources:
- Read the official notice from Ca — Use this primary source to verify the official announcement.
- Check eligibility on Pagasearch’s official study page — Use this page to check the study’s participation requirements.
Table of Contents
- State share versus workers' share
- How is each worker's check calculated?
- What comes out before you are paid?
- Do you need to file a claim to get paid?
State share versus workers' share
For PAGA notices filed before June 19, 2024, 75% goes to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and 25% goes to aggrieved employees. The California Labor and Workforce Development Agency states that split in its current PAGA FAQs.
For PAGA notices filed on or after June 19, 2024, reform raises the workers' share to 35% and leaves 65% for the agency. Fisher Phillips describes that 65-35 split in its October 2026 analysis of PAGA reform. Your notice date controls the formula, not your last day of work.
How is each worker's check calculated?
The employees' share becomes one fund, then it is divided pro rata by qualifying pay periods in the covered period. California court PAGA settlement agreements use that pay-period method, as shown in a 2026 PAGA settlement agreement.
A worker with twice as many qualifying pay periods gets roughly twice as much. For example, if a net workers' fund covers 7,000 total pay periods, each pay period has the same dollar value. A worker with 40 pay periods would receive twice as much as a worker with 20 pay periods.
What comes out before you are paid?
Workers do not split the gross settlement. The fund is first reduced by court-approved attorney fees, often up to one-third, plus litigation costs, administration costs, and any plaintiff service award. The Los Angeles Superior Court ruling in Judy Lee v.
WSH Management describes those deductions in its 2025 approval order. That leaves the net PAGA penalty fund for division between the state and workers. The usual deductions are: Every PAGA settlement must be reviewed and approved by the court as fair, with notice and service to the LWDA, according to LegalClarity.
- court-approved attorney fees
- litigation, administration, and settlement costs
- plaintiff service award
Do you need to file a claim to get paid?
In most PAGA settlements, affected workers do not need to file claims. A settlement administrator calculates shares from employment records and mails individual checks, according to California court PAGA settlement orders from 2025-2026. Keep your mailing address current with the administrator. Individual checks are typically valid for 180 days.
Uncashed amounts go to the California State Controller's Unclaimed Property Fund in the worker's name and do not revert to the employer, according to the same court orders. PAGA pays civil penalties only, not back pay. The California Supreme Court held in ZB v. Superior Court that unpaid wages cannot be recovered through PAGA, according to Legal 500/BakerHostetler.