Rachel L. Blau
92 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 516
The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that homes can double as offices. But when a teleworker opens her laptop across state lines from her employer, may she claim the statutory worker protections provided in the employer’s state? Too often, courts misunderstand this recurring problem and refuse to extend an employer’s state protections to an out-of-state teleworker, granting a defendant’s motion to dismiss. Because each statute is analyzed in isolation, a teleworker may be relegated to lawless nowhere land, unable to recover under any state statutory scheme.
This Note argues that, in the absence of legislative direction, a court should always find that the scope of an employer’s state statute is broad enough to extend to an out-of-state remote teleworker. Telework is performed using entirely virtual technology and has no physical connection to the place in which it is performed. In contrast, the employer is tethered to earth and therefore should permissibly regulate the employer-teleworker relationship. This Note advocates for a judicial solution by examining existing judicial considerations. It argues that, because of the quasi-territorial nature of remote work, a teleworker should always fall within the legislative jurisdiction of an employer’s state.
