PAGA Reform 2024: What AB 2288 / SB 92 Actually Changed for California Employers
A lot of "PAGA penalty" content online still describes the pre-2024 rules with no cure option and no discount for compliance effort. That's no longer the whole picture.
For PAGA notices filed on or after 2024-07-01, California's Private Attorneys General Act runs under substantially reformed rules from AB 2288 and SB 92. The base penalty structure — $100 per employee per pay period for an initial violation, $200 for a subsequent one — didn't change. What changed is that employers who took "all reasonable steps" toward compliance can now get the penalty pool discounted, and small employers get a real chance to cure violations before penalties stack up at all.
What didn't change: the per-violation rates
The headline per-employee, per-pay-period penalty amounts are the same as before reform: $100 for an initial violation and $200 for each subsequent violation of the same Labor Code section against the same employee. Wage statement violations specifically remain capped at $200 per employee. Reform didn't touch these numbers — it changed how much of the resulting total an employer actually has to pay.
What actually changed: reasonable-steps discounts
The core of the 2024 reform is a discount system tied to what the employer did before litigation started. An employer that can show it took "all reasonable steps" to comply with the specific Labor Code provision at issue before receiving a PAGA notice can have the penalty reduced by up to 15%.
An employer that takes those same reasonable steps after receiving notice, within the cure window, can qualify for up to a 30% reduction. "Reasonable steps" isn't defined as a single checklist — courts look at things like written policies, employee training, and periodic audits of the exact practice at issue.
The small-employer cure process is the biggest practical change
Employers with fewer than 100 employees get access to a formal early-resolution track that didn't meaningfully exist before reform: after a PAGA notice, the employer can request an early evaluation conference through the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and the LWDA generally has up to 33 days to respond, with the employer getting a defined window — up to 65 days — to actually cure the violation.
A successful full cure at this stage can avoid litigation and most of the associated penalty exposure entirely. Employers at or above the 100-employee threshold don't get this specific small-employer track, though the general reasonable-steps discounts still apply to them.
Why "PAGA penalty calculator" content needs a reform-aware disclaimer
Because the reform didn't set a flat cap — it created a discount that depends on employer-specific facts (what compliance steps were taken, and when) — no calculator can respond "your exact penalty is $X" without knowing those facts. Treat any tool or article that outputs a single hard number as an estimate of the maximum exposure before any reasonable-steps or cure discount is applied, not a final figure.
Model your exposure
Our PAGA Penalty Estimator runs the base per-employee, per-pay-period math and applies the reasonable-steps and small-employer cure discounts from the actual 2024 reform framework, rather than the flat pre-reform formula still floating around in older content.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did PAGA reform set a flat dollar cap on penalties?
No. The 2024 reform (AB 2288 / SB 92) did not cap penalties at a flat dollar figure. Instead it lets employers who took "all reasonable steps" toward compliance reduce the penalty pool by a percentage, with a larger discount available to employers who cure violations before or shortly after a PAGA notice.
Does PAGA reform apply to every pending case?
No. The reformed provisions apply to PAGA notices filed on or after 2024-07-01. Notices filed before that date are generally still governed by the prior rules.
What's the cure process for small employers?
Employers with fewer than 100 employees can request an early evaluation conference through the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and get a defined window to cure certain violations, potentially avoiding litigation and reducing exposure significantly if the cure is accepted.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. PAGA exposure depends heavily on case-specific facts — consult an employment attorney before relying on any estimate.