Research · Audit · Prevention
Which PAGA penalty tier applies to your operation?
paga-calc is built for California cleaning contractors. The free classifier below is research material to bring to your attorney; the $49 audit is the methodology walkthrough we're preparing for early-access launch; and SiteOps — our 2026 monthly prevention service — is in private waitlist. We are not currently accepting payment for the audit — join the waitlist after you classify. All three are grounded in primary-source California Labor Code.
Most California cleaning contractors don't know that PAGA has multiple penalty tiers, caps, and a cure mechanism — and that judicial discretion can shift the analysis. Find out which tier most likely applies to your declared inputs.
- §§ 2698-2699.5
- § 226
- § 510
- Cal. Labor Code
- 01
Generic state-wide calculators emit a guessed dollar number that an attorney can't defend at trial
- 02
You suspect your timekeeping wouldn't hold up in court but you have no structural framework to evaluate the risk
- 03
Competitor settlements suggest your trade is being targeted but you can't read a settlement number into your own classification
A tier classification grounded in primary-source statutory text, tailored to your headcount and timekeeping inputs — not a guessed dollar number.
Classification cites California Labor Code § 2699, § 226, § 510 and surfaces the applicable § 2699(g)/(h) caps and § 2699(j) cure mechanism for your attorney to evaluate.
A tier classification grounded in primary-source statutory text, tailored to your headcount and timekeeping inputs — not a guessed dollar number.
Classification cites California Labor Code § 2699, § 226, § 510 and surfaces the applicable § 2699(g)/(h) caps and § 2699(j) cure mechanism for your attorney to evaluate.
Enter your operation. Get a defensible tier classification.
Inputs are processed server-side. We never store more than what you enter — your tier classification is rendered on the next screen.
What paga-calc actually is.
paga-calc is a research-and-prevention team for California cleaning contractors, shipping three products at three different maturity levels. The free classifier above is research material and live now; the $49 methodology audit is in early-access waitlist (we are not currently accepting payment — join the waitlist below); SiteOps is the monthly prevention service we're building for 2026, also in waitlist. Every output cites the controlling California Labor Code section so your employment attorney can verify the analysis. Operator-led, attorney-reviewed, not legal advice.
- Free · live
Tier classifier
Enter six inputs, get your most likely § 2699(f) PAGA tier with statutory citations and the seven § 2699 mechanics that bear on the classification. Research material to bring to your employment attorney — never a dollar exposure number.
↑ The calculator above.
- $49 · waitlist
Methodology audit
A plain-English methodology walkthrough of how PAGA's tier framework applies to your specific operation, plus a structured question list your CA employment attorney can answer in a single hour. One-time, no subscription. Launching soon — we are not currently accepting payment.
Join the audit waitlist after classifying.
- Waitlist · 2026
SiteOps prevention
An operator-managed monthly prevention service: timekeeping audit, evidentiary weak-points report, and a compliance pulse before the next PAGA notice cycle. In private waitlist — not yet a live product. Join to signal forward intent and lock in early pricing.
Join the SiteOps waitlist after classifying.
None of these are a substitute for legal advice. Every output cites the controlling California Labor Code section so your employment attorney can verify the structural analysis. The full methodology and open design questions live at /methodology.
Understanding PAGA's tier framework now is worth more than learning it after a demand letter triggers the § 2699.3 cure window — your response timeline depends on your attorney.
How the calculator gets to your number.
AGA penalties stack. The Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (§§ 2698-2699.5, as reformed by AB 2288 / SB 92 effective July 1, 2024) imposes a default $100 per employee per pay period, reduced to $50/PPwhen the employer has taken “reasonable steps” pre-notice, or $15/PP when the violation is cured after LWDA notice. The elevated $200 per employee per pay period rate now applies only on a prior 5-year finding or willful/malicious conduct — so what looks like a small wage-statement error multiplied by 26 pay periods and a 20-person crew can still move from hundreds into hundreds of thousands of dollars quickly.
We stack three Labor Code sources: §§ 2698-2699.5 (the PAGA framework itself, post-AB-2288 reform), § 226 (wage-statement requirements, capped at $4,000/employee per statute), and § 510 (overtime, when average hours/week exceed 40). On top of those, we apply a court-defensibility risk multiplier ranging from 0.85× for biometric records (lowest risk) to 1.6× for paper timesheets (highest risk), and we report a ±30% range around the midpoint to honor genuine uncertainty in violation-rate assumptions.
We use employer-defensive assumptions throughout — not plaintiff worst-case math. The number you see is closer to what your attorney would quote than what a plaintiff firm would assert in a demand letter. The methodology lives in plain text at /llms.txt so it's auditable.
PAGA framework
Default $100/employee/pay period (AB 2288 reformed). Reduced to $50 with reasonable-steps defense, $15 if cured post-notice. $200/PP only on prior finding or willful conduct. 65% LWDA / 35% aggrieved employees.
Wage statement
$50 initial / $100 subsequent per employee per pay period. Capped at $4,000/employee.
Overtime
1.5× hours 8–12/day or over 40/week; 2× hours over 12/day. Applied when hours/week > 40.
Built by operators, for operators.
paga-calc is a small operator-led team building research and prevention tools for California cleaning contractors. We aren't lawyers and we don't give legal advice — but we read the same primary-source California Labor Code, IWC Wage Order 5, and DIR enforcement materials your employment attorney does, and we surface them in plain English so the conversation with your attorney is shorter and cheaper.
Our published methodology is the load-bearing artifact: every tier classification cites the controlling § 2699 subsection, every applicable cap names its statutory authority, and the open design questions an attorney would resolve are front-and-center at /methodology. Operator-led, attorney-reviewed. Not legal advice.
- What we are
A research-and-prevention team. Three products at three maturity levels: free classifier (live), $49 audit (early-access waitlist — not yet accepting payment), SiteOps prevention (private waitlist, 2026 launch).
- What we aren't
Not a law firm. Not a generic state-wide tool. Not an AI chatbot. Not a plaintiff-side calculator built to inflate exposure.
- Who it's for
California cleaning contractor owner-operators (~1–50 W-2 employees) anticipating PAGA risk. Janitorial / public-housekeeping industry focus.