This is a putative wage and hour class and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) action on behalf of employees of defendant AirCom Mechanical. Plaintiff also brings an individual claim for wrongful termination.

Before the Court is Defendant’s motion for leave to file an amended answer, which Plaintiff opposes. As discussed below, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s motion.

I. BACKGROUND

As alleged in the operative complaint, Plaintiff became an HVAC Installer for Defendant in April 2019. (Complaint, ¶ 11.) He alleges that he and other employees were required to perform work off-the-clock, specifically, responding to emails. (Id., ¶ 12.) In addition, Plaintiff and other employees would often take their meal breaks after working more than five hours, without receiving a meal period premium. (Id., ¶¶ 14.) On July 3, 2019, Plaintiff was terminated because of his complaints about wage and hour violations and his refusal to respond to emails after clocking out. (Id., ¶ 15.)

Based on these allega