WFH: Employee Rights By State

The idea that working from home gives you the same rights no matter where you sit is one of those comfortable assumptions that unravels fast when you start looking at the details. You might work for a company headquartered in New York, but if you live in Texas, Texas law — not New York’s — generally governs your wage, leave, and break protections. And the gap between states can be enormous. As of 2025, minimum wages range from the federal floor of $7.25 an hour — still in effect in about 20 states — to more than $17 in places like Washington State and parts of California, according to state labor department data compiled in a recent compliance guide.

Heads up — this post may include links to things I use or like, and I might earn a little something if you shop through them. Doesn’t cost you anything extra, and I only mention stuff I’d actually recommend.

Federal Protections That Follow You Home

The good news: a core set of federal employment laws apply regardless of where you plug in your laptop. The Fair Labor Standards Act covers minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping for remote nonexempt workers the same way it does for on-site staff. The Department of Labor sets the current salary threshold for exempt employees at $684 per week ($35,568 per year), with a higher $107,432 threshold for highly compensated roles. A 2024 rule that would have raised those numbers was struck down and formally rescinded, so that’s where things stand now.

The Family and Medical Leave Act also protects eligible remote workers: up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. For FMLA purposes, your “worksite” is typically the office your employer assigns you to, not your home address — so if that office has 50 or more employees within 75 miles, you qualify even if you never set foot there. The DOL’s FMLA guidance still has evolving language around fully remote workforces, but the baseline protection holds.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, remote work can be a reasonable accommodation for a qualified disability — though the employer doesn’t have to offer it if a remote program doesn’t already exist. Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act cover remote workers too, including virtual harassment and biased return-to-office mandates. And the Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards, even if that workplace happens to be the corner of your dining room. Our broader employee-rights guide goes deeper into each of these federal protections.

Why Your Physical Location Matters More Than Your Employer’s HQ

Federal law gives you a floor, but state law fills in the walls — and the room you’re standing in depends entirely on where your body is when you’re working. A California employer who hires a remote employee living in Texas follows Texas wage and hour rules, not California’s. That principle seems straightforward, but it trips up a lot of people.

A recent case from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals makes the stakes concrete. Jan Kuklenski worked remotely for Medtronic, a Minnesota-based company, from California, Illinois, and Michigan — she never lived or physically worked in Minnesota. After her employment ended, she sued under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, arguing the company failed to accommodate her disability. The court ruled she wasn’t an “employee” under the MHRA because the statute defines an employee as someone who “resides or works in this state,” and working remotely from another state doesn’t count as working in Minnesota. The decision, covered by employment law firm Fisher Phillips, means you can’t automatically rely on your employer’s home state to protect you.

States With the Strongest Remote Worker Laws

Some states have built a much sturdier safety net for remote employees. California is probably the best known. Under Labor Code §2802, employers must reimburse all necessary expenses — internet, phone bills, office supplies, equipment. California also requires daily overtime (time-and-a-half after 8 hours in a day, double-time after 12), a 30-minute unpaid meal break for shifts over 5 hours, and a paid 10-minute rest break every 4 hours. The state’s paid sick leave law and pay transparency requirements apply to remote workers too.

New York offers robust protections as well. The state minimum wage is $15.00 for most workers, with $16.00 for New York City, Long Island, and Westchester. Remote employees working in New York are entitled to the state’s paid family leave — partial wage replacement for bonding with a child or caring for an ill family member — and paid sick leave. New York’s pay transparency law requires salary ranges in job postings for any role that reports to a New York-based supervisor or office, even if the employee works remotely from another state.

Illinois also stands out. The Wage Payment and Collection Act requires reimbursement for “all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee within the scope of employment” — which courts have applied to internet costs and portions of personal cell phone bills. Since January 2025, the Illinois Equal Pay Act has required employers with 15 or more employees to disclose pay ranges in job postings, including for remote roles open to Illinois-based applicants. For more on how pay transparency plays out in practice, this piece on getting paid fairly from home covers the details.

Pay Transparency and Paid Leave: Where the Gaps Are

Colorado currently has the broadest pay transparency law in the country — it applies to any employer with at least one Colorado-based employee and requires a compensation range and benefits description in every posting for a role that could be performed by a Colorado applicant. Washington State’s Equal Pay and Opportunities Act similarly requires wage scale disclosure for remote roles fillable by a Washington-based employee. Massachusetts’ Wage Transparency Act took effect in October 2025 for employers with 25 or more employees and covers remote postings connected to Massachusetts.

On the paid leave side, the picture is uneven. Fifteen states and numerous municipalities now require employers to provide paid sick leave, according to a remote-work compliance analysis. Maryland’s Healthy Working Families Act, for example, requires remote employees based in Maryland to accrue paid sick and safe leave based on hours worked. The District of Columbia goes further, with employer-funded paid family leave and a requirement that accrued PTO be paid out on termination unless a written policy says otherwise.

But that means 35 states still don’t mandate any paid sick leave at all. If you’re remote in one of those states, your sick time depends entirely on your employer’s policy — or on whatever you can negotiate.

Who Pays for Your Home Office?

One of the most practical questions for remote workers — who covers the internet bill, the printer ink, the extra electricity — has very different answers depending on where you live. Only a handful of states require employers to reimburse business expenses: California, Illinois, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington, D.C. In those places, the law generally says you must be made whole for costs that are “necessary” and “incurred within the scope of employment.”

In most other states, there’s no statutory obligation. Massachusetts, for instance, has no law requiring reimbursement, though the Attorney General’s office has issued guidance recommending that employers cover “unavoidable and necessary” expenses — and warning that unreimbursed costs can’t push your pay below the state minimum wage. Even where reimbursement isn’t mandatory, it’s worth asking. Many employers have their own policies, and a written telework agreement can make expectations clear. Our article on ergonomic requirements touches on what employers may need to provide for your physical setup.

When Your Rights Feel Fuzzy: Compensable Time and Privacy

Two areas where remote workers often feel uncertain: what counts as work time and how much privacy they actually have. Under the FLSA, “hours worked” includes all time the employer requires or permits an employee to work, whether or not it was requested. That means booting up your computer before your shift, checking emails after dinner, or responding to Slack messages at 9 p.m. could all be compensable — especially if those tasks are regular and not just occasional.

The “de minimis” doctrine, which used to let employers ignore very short work periods, has narrowed. Courts increasingly say even brief stretches of work count if they happen routinely. And if your employer requires you to be on call — meaning you have to stay near your computer and respond within a few minutes — that time may also be owed compensation, depending on how much it restricts your personal activities.

On privacy: remote workers have limited rights on company-owned devices. Emails from your work account, browsing history on a company laptop, and messages sent through corporate chat platforms are generally accessible to your employer. During your scheduled hours, monitoring for policy compliance is usually allowed. If you use personal devices for work, the lines can get murkier — but the safest assumption is that anything work-related can be seen.

If you suspect your rights have been violated — wage theft, discrimination, retaliation for requesting accommodation — documentation is your first line of defense. Save emails, take screenshots of messages, and write a brief summary of any relevant conversation right after it happens. Our guide on safe remote work environments includes more on what to track.