Ecolab victorious at arbitration and appeal against individual and California-wide wage and hour PAGA claims

Client(s) Ecolab Inc.

Following a four-day arbitration hearing, Jones Day won a second judgment in Ecolab Inc.'s favor in a California Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act ("PAGA") case filed by a repeat plaintiff seeking penalties on behalf of employees statewide. The claims were brought by a former employee who filed his first statewide PAGA case against Ecolab in 2019 in Los Angeles Superior Court. When that case resulted in a published Court of Appeal decision affirming Ecolab's summary judgment win on the plaintiff's primary regular rate theory, the plaintiff filed a second PAGA action asserting new wage and hour claims. After the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Viking River v. Moriana, Ecolab successfully moved to compel arbitration on an individual basis and preserved that win in a second appeal.

In arbitration, the plaintiff brought claims for minimum wage, overtime, meal break, reporting time, wage statement, and waiting time penalties. His attorneys also filed similar arbitration cases on behalf of over a dozen other employees. Following three rounds of post-hearing briefs, Ecolab won a judgment in its favor on all claims asserted. The Arbitrator concluded that Ecolab's policies and practices were compliant with California law and that the plaintiff had not experienced any Labor Code violations. The Arbitrator also deemed Ecolab the prevailing party and invited the company to seek attorney's fees and costs. Based on the strength of the Arbitrator's interim award, Ecolab secured the plaintiff's agreement to an uncontested confirmation of the arbitration award and dismissal of the remaining representative PAGA claims still pending in state court, effectively ending the plaintiff's litigation against Ecolab and the related arbitration campaign.

Lemm v. Ecolab Inc., No. 21STCV08647 (Super. Ct. Los Angeles Cty., Cal.); Nos. B325695 and B312232 (Cal. App. 2d)