Dear Littler,
We are a small company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that allowed some of our employees to work remotely during the pandemic. When we recently announced our plans to call employees back to home base in Milwaukee, we received feedback that some employees did not plan to come back—they want to continue working remotely. We anticipated this, and we’re working with them to navigate their individual situations, but we were surprised to learn that some of our employees have actually relocated to different states!
Fortunately, most of them are still in Wisconsin. However, we have learned that one employee, Wanda Wanderer, moved to Illinois. While we have a Chicago office (and are therefore not concerned with our wage and hour compliance in Illinois or tax implications), Wanda is the first remote employee in that state. We recently saw that Illinois may require that we reimburse Wanda’s personal cell phone, internet, and home office equipment. Wisconsin has no similar requirement—what do we need to know about expense reimbursement for our remote employees in and beyond Illinois?
—Do I Really Have to Pay for That?
Dear Do I Really,
You are correct that several states and localities require the reimbursement of necessary business expenses. The first thing to know about these laws is that no state expressly requires the reimbursement of expenses of purely voluntary remote work. For example, if an employee elects to work from home entirely for their own convenience, and...
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