Employment Litigation · Primary-source case analysis

Adolph v. Uber: PAGA Standing Survives Arbitration of the Individual Claim

By Aneeta Mishra and Timothy Chan

Published April 13, 2026

Adolph addresses what happens to representative Private Attorneys General Act claims when an arbitration agreement requires the employee’s own alleged Labor Code violations to be decided in arbitration.

How the case reached the Supreme Court

Erik Adolph worked as an Uber Eats driver and accepted an agreement containing an arbitration provision. He later alleged Labor Code violations and sought civil penalties under PAGA for himself and other allegedly aggrieved employees. The trial court declined to compel the PAGA dispute to arbitration, and the Court of Appeal affirmed before the United States Supreme Court decided Viking River Cruises.

The standing question

California’s high court framed the issue narrowly: whether a PAGA plaintiff loses statutory standing to pursue non-individual claims in court merely because the individual component is ordered to arbitration. PAGA standing turns on whether the plaintiff was employed by the alleged violator and suffered one or more alleged Labor Code violations—not on whether every component proceeds in the same forum.

The Court’s holding

The Court held that arbitration of the individual claim does not strip the plaintiff of standing to litigate non-individual PAGA claims. The action can be managed through a stay while arbitration determines whether the plaintiff is an aggrieved employee. If the arbitrator finds no qualifying violation and that determination is binding, the plaintiff may lack standing; if a violation is established, the court may proceed accordingly.

What the decision did not resolve

The Court did not decide every contract-interpretation or case-management question, and it expressed no view on the parties’ remaining arbitration arguments. Adolph therefore protects statutory standing but does not guarantee certification, liability, penalties, or a particular sequence in every PAGA case.

Key takeaways

• Individual arbitration does not automatically end non-individual PAGA claims.
• Aggrieved-employee status remains the statutory standing inquiry.
• A court may stay non-individual proceedings while arbitration resolves the individual component.
• The arbitration agreement and later determinations still matter.