Initially driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, more than two years after the start of the first lockdown, remote work arrangements remain prevalent in California. According to one nonpartisan think tank, 22 percent of Californians work remotely and 15 percent have a mix of working remotely and working outside the home. Given these statistics, an important consideration for California employers may be ensuring that their companies comply with state and local wage and hour laws that may apply to remote workers.

Generally, remote employees are subject to the employment laws of the state and locality where they are physically present and working. If an employer permits remote work outside the locality or state of operations, the employer may want to consider taking steps to ensure compliance with those state and local laws.

Within California, there are more than thirty-five local minimum wage ordinances. While the rules of applicability vary among the local ordinances, some require that remote employees working and residing in a locality be paid the local minimum wage. For example, if an employee's dedicated company office is in Fresno, which does not have a unique minimum wage ordinance, and the employee moves to Hayward, which has a higher minimum wage for large businesses of $15.56 per hour, where the employee will work remotely, that higher minimum wage may apply to the time worked in Hayward. The City of Hayward's ordinance requires that the employer pay the city's higher...

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