California Appeals Court Limits State Job Laws for Utah Remote Worker in Arrest-Record Case
Updated
Updated · Davis Wright Tremaine · Aug 13
California Appeals Court Limits State Job Laws for Utah Remote Worker in Arrest-Record Case
3 articles · Updated · Davis Wright Tremaine · Aug 13
Summary
A California Court of Appeal ruled California employment laws did not govern a Utah-based remote worker’s firing, even though his employer was headquartered in California.
The court said California’s arrest-record protections can reach out-of-state workers only when the challenged conduct has a sufficient California nexus, and a California choice-of-law clause does not automatically extend those statutes.
Key facts cut against applying California law: the employee lived and worked in Utah, the arrest occurred in Florida, his supervisor was outside California, and the termination decision was made by managers in Illinois.
The decision in Saberin v. Alation gives California employers a statute-by-statute framework for remote-work disputes, signaling that headquarters location alone will not decide multistate employment-law coverage.