Employment Litigation · Primary-source case analysis

Viking River Cruises: The FAA Permits Division of Individual and Non-Individual PAGA Claims

By Aneeta Mishra and Timothy Chan

Published April 15, 2026

Viking River addressed how a predispute arbitration agreement interacts with a California Private Attorneys General Act action containing violations allegedly suffered by the plaintiff and by other employees.

Moriana’s PAGA action and arbitration agreement

Angie Moriana sued her former employer under PAGA, alleging a Labor Code violation affecting her and additional violations affecting other employees. Her arbitration agreement required individual arbitration and contained a representative-action waiver with a severability clause. California courts refused to compel arbitration under the then-governing Iskanian rule.

The Court divided two concepts of representation

The Supreme Court distinguished PAGA’s feature of allowing an employee to act as the State’s proxy from the joinder of violations involving multiple employees. The FAA did not require enforcement of a wholesale waiver of PAGA standing, but it did preempt the rule that categorically prevented the parties from separating the plaintiff’s own alleged violation from the remaining violations.

The federal disposition

The Court held that Moriana’s individual PAGA claim could be compelled to arbitration. It then concluded that the remaining non-individual claims should be dismissed because, under its understanding of California law, Moriana lacked statutory standing to pursue them separately. The judgment was reversed and remanded.

Adolph limits the standing portion

In Adolph v. Uber Technologies, Inc., the California Supreme Court later held that an employee does not lose PAGA standing to litigate non-individual claims merely because the individual claim is ordered to arbitration. Viking River remains important on FAA preemption and claim division, but its prediction about California standing is not the last word.

Key takeaways

• An agreement may require arbitration of the plaintiff’s individual PAGA claim.
• The FAA preempts a categorical state rule forbidding division of individual and non-individual claims.
• A wholesale waiver of PAGA standing presents a different question.
• Adolph controls the later California-law standing issue and must be read with Viking River.