Home » Commentary » I Live in One State and Work in Another. Which State’s Employment Laws Protect Me?

Josh Goodbaum: Hi, Amanda.

Amanda DeMatteis: Hi, Josh. What are we gonna talk about today?

Goodbaum: I want to talk about employees who live in one place and work in another. So, Connecticut is a small state. We have a lot of employees who live here in Connecticut but work in New York or New Jersey or Massachusetts or Rhode Island, and likewise, we have a lot of folks who work here in Connecticut but live in surrounding states or somewhere else, or people who live in other parts of the country but work for Connecticut companies or vice versa.

So, folks come to us because they have employment law problems, and one of the first things they ask is, “Well, what law applies? Is it the law of Connecticut? Is it the law of the state where I live or the state where I work?” What do people need to know about that?

DeMatteis: Great question. Relatively simple one, Josh. It is typically the laws where you work that matter for employment law, not the laws where you live.

So, how does this impact an employee who may have claims against their employer and wants to take action?

The first question is, “Well, where do I look for an employment lawyer?” And that, again, would be in the state where you work. So, if you live in New Jersey but you’re working in Connecticut, you’re gonna want to look for a Connecticut employment attorney. Likewise, if you live here in Connecticut, but you work in New York, or maybe you work in Chicago — there’s people that, you know, travel all week and just come back to Connecticut on the weekends — you’re gonna want a lawyer in the state where you work, because those are the laws that are going to apply, so, you want an expert, right? You want someone that’s gonna have home court advantage in whatever state that you’re going to be bringing this action in.

The same applies for unemployment. We get this question a lot, too: “Well, I live in Connecticut, but I work in Rhode Island. Where do I apply for unemployment?” You’re gonna, again, apply for unemployment where you worked. That’s the state or Department of Labor that is going to have jurisdiction over deciding whether or not you are entitled to unemployment benefits in that state.

In this post-COVID era, though, Josh, we have this other interesting wrinkle in what is otherwise a pretty easy legal question, which is, “Well, what about if I work in more than one state?” There’s a lot of people at this point who have these hybrid work arrangements. Maybe I work half of the time in my home office in Connecticut, and I work half of the time in my employer’s office in New York City. Now what?

Goodbaum: Yeah, it’s a good question, Amanda, and the answer is the law is not entirely clear on that yet. It often takes a while for the law to catch up to human reality. Our position as employment lawyers who represent employees is the law protects you wherever you work, and if you work in multiple states, then multiple state laws protect you.

If you work hybrid – say, three days a week from home in Connecticut and two days a week in an office in New York City – then you have the protection of Connecticut law and the protection of New York City law. You work in two places; you have the benefit of two laws. And I’m gonna continue to take that position until an appellate court tells me I’m wrong about that.

But I think that’s the right approach, and I think it’s an approach that a court is ultimately going to adopt because every state has an interest in protecting its workers. It’s not a single state only that can protect you. It’s every state where you work that can protect you.

DeMatteis: Well, then that’s even better for employees. Thank you so much for watching. We’ll see you next time.

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