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Maine vs. Texas Employment

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If an employee lives and works in Maine but the employer is in Texas, which state laws apply?

Determining which state has jurisdiction can be a confusing task. As a general rule, Maine labor laws cover the employers in Maine, not the employee. In other words, labor laws don’t depend on where the employees live, but how the employers in that state treat their workers. This point can be helpful when trying to understand which laws apply to which employees.

In reference to the question, if a Texas employer has an employee in Maine, but does not operate a site or location there, then Texas labor laws would apply. If the employer is headquartered in Texas, but operates a branch or site in Maine, the employees in Maine may be covered under Maine labor laws.

To illustrate, consider a small newspaper in Denton, Texas. The paper has no office or location in Colorado. A reporter for the paper, however, is assigned to Denver to cover aerospace news. Since the paper doesn’t operate a business in Colorado, the reporter would be covered by Texas labor laws.

Suppose the company is a regional retail chain. Headquarters is located in Atlanta, Georgia, and the company has stores in Florida, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. Persons who work for a store in Orlando would be covered by Florida laws, because the company operates a business there, a separate store. Employees in South Carolina would be covered by South Carolina laws, Alabama workers come under Alabama laws, and so on.

In some states, the number of employees can be a factor in state jurisdiction. Some states do not require companies with only a few workers (5 or 10) in that state to follow the state laws.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule and in some cases there may be exceptions to this one.

Some scenarios regarding state jurisdiction may be so confusing that an attorney is the only one who can sort out the rules. The Department of Labor in the state where the employee works should be the first contact in this process. Professionals in the Wage and Hour Division (names may vary from state-to-state) can provide a free consultation on which state’s laws cover the employee. JH