Preview: PAGA Provokes Group Response

The president of a Pacoima manufacturing company has formed an organization to change a state law that allows employees to file lawsuits against companies for labor code violations, even if the employees weren’t affected by the violations. For Tom Manzo, the goal of the California Business & Industrial Alliance goes beyond opposing the Private Attorney General Act, or PAGA. He hopes to make it a platform to oppose other state labor laws, using the PAGA issue as a teaching moment for business owners, employees and lawmakers. “Our plan is we want to gain membership, we want to advocate for change but we want to educate,” said Manzo, president of Timely Prefinished Steel Door Frames. “If there is a small business out there that doesn’t even know what the PAGA law is, what the ramifications are of offering a flexible schedule, they are opening themselves up to a huge lawsuit.” Read the full story in the Sept. 4 issue of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.