Remote and hybrid work arrangements expose employers to compliance obligations in every state where employees live and work—regardless of company headquarters location. Building an HR compliance checklist for remote teams requires tracking state-specific requirements across hiring, handbooks, leave policies, pay transparency, posters, and workers’ compensation in multiple jurisdictions.
This guide explains why remote work creates unique compliance risks, what your checklist must cover, and how to maintain compliance as your workforce grows or relocates.
Why Remote Teams Create New Compliance Risks
Remote work fundamentally changes your compliance footprint by creating obligations in states where you have no physical presence, multiplying jurisdictions you must monitor, and triggering registration requirements.
- Geographic distribution creates multi-state obligations. Each state where a remote employee works imposes its employment laws on your company. A California remote employee requires California meal break policies and expense reimbursement—even if your headquarters is in Texas. Employment law follows the employee’s work location, not headquarters.
- Jurisdiction volume overwhelms manual tracking. A company with 50 remote employees across 15 states faces 15 different sets of paid leave laws, 15 minimum wage rates, and 15 sets of required employment handbook policies. Manual spreadsheets can’t keep pace with this complexity.
- Registration and tax obligations multiply. Remote employees trigger business registration requirements, unemployment insurance registration, workers’ compensation coverage obligations, and state tax withholding in each work location. Some states require registration before employment starts.
- Policy conflicts require resolution strategies. California requires liberal expense reimbursement for all work-related costs while most states don’t. Pay transparency laws vary dramatically—some states require salary ranges in all job postings, others have no requirement. Your checklist must address how you’ll handle these conflicts.
What an HR Compliance Checklist Should Cover
An effective remote work compliance checklist addresses six areas where state law divergence creates the highest risk and penalties for violations are most severe.
Hiring and registration
Before hiring your first remote employee in a new state, verify registration requirements. Most states require foreign business registration if you have employees working there. Many require unemployment insurance registration before the employee’s start date. Missing registration deadlines creates penalties.
Your checklist should include: verify foreign business registration requirements, register for state unemployment insurance, obtain workers’ compensation coverage, and register for state tax withholding. Hiring compliance varies by state—ban-the-box laws, salary history inquiry bans, and background check requirements differ across jurisdictions.
Handbooks and policies
Remote employees need handbooks reflecting the laws of their work location, not your headquarters state. California remote employees require meal break policies and expense reimbursement commitments. New York remote employees need sexual harassment policies with specific content and annual training requirements.
Your checklist should track which states require specific handbook policies, when updates are legally required, and how to deliver state-specific policies without maintaining completely separate handbooks.
Paid leave laws
Seventeen states mandate paid sick leave with different accrual rates, carryover rules, and permitted uses. Seven states operate paid family and medical leave insurance programs with different contribution rates. Local ordinances in dozens of cities add additional requirements.
Your checklist must identify which employees work in states with mandatory paid sick leave, what accrual rate applies to each location, whether carryover is required, and which states require paid family leave insurance contributions.
Pay transparency
Eight states require salary range disclosure in job postings—California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington. Requirements vary: Colorado requires ranges in all postings, New York applies only to positions that could be performed in New York.
Your checklist should address which states require salary range disclosure, whether ranges must appear in initial postings or only upon request, and whether remote positions posted nationally require disclosure.
Labor law posters
Every state mandates different workplace posters covering wage laws, discrimination, safety, and leave rights. Remote workers can’t see physical office posters. Your checklist must include providing digital posters to all remote employees, verifying poster content is current for each state, and maintaining proof of poster delivery.
Digital poster delivery creates compliance proof when auditors ask if employees received required posters.
Safety and workers’ comp
Workers’ compensation requirements follow the employee’s work location. California requires workers’ comp coverage for all employees, including remote workers. Your checklist should verify workers’ compensation coverage in each state where employees work, injury reporting procedures for remote employees, and equipment provision policies.
Remote work safety policies should address home office setup, ergonomic requirements, and expense reimbursement for necessary equipment.
Step-by-Step: Build a Remote HR Compliance Checklist
Create your compliance checklist by inventorying current remote locations, researching requirements, and establishing update procedures.
Step 1: Inventory employee locations. List every state where you currently employ remote workers. Include employee names, work locations, and hire dates. Update this monthly as employees relocate or join.
Step 2: Research state requirements. For each state, identify mandatory requirements across hiring, handbooks, leave, pay transparency, posters, and workers’ comp. Understanding which employment policies are required by state prevents gaps.
Step 3: Document compliance status. For each requirement, document whether you currently comply. “California meal break policy: Not compliant—handbook uses federal standard only.” This assessment identifies gaps requiring immediate attention.
Step 4: Prioritize by risk. Rank requirements by legal risk and penalty severity. Missing workers’ compensation coverage creates immediate liability. Address high-risk gaps immediately, schedule medium-risk items within 90 days.
Step 5: Assign ownership. Each compliance item needs an owner and deadline. “Register for Colorado unemployment insurance: HR Manager, complete by [date].”
Step 6: Establish update procedures. Employment law changes constantly. Review your checklist quarterly: check for new employees in new states, verify law changes, and confirm registrations remain current.
State-by-State Differences for Remote Workers
Three states create the most complexity for remote teams due to stringent requirements.
- California imposes comprehensive remote work obligations: daily overtime after 8 hours, mandatory meal breaks before the 5th hour, liberal expense reimbursement including all work-related costs, and biennial harassment prevention training. California employees working remotely in other states still require California compliance.
- New York requires sexual harassment policies with specific content, annual sexual harassment training, detailed wage notices at hiring, and specific pay stub content.
- Massachusetts mandates earned sick time accrual (1 hour per 30 hours worked), immediate final paycheck delivery on termination, and stringent non-compete restrictions.
Understanding termination requirements by state helps avoid final paycheck timing violations.
How Software Simplifies Remote Compliance
Compliance software addresses remote work complexity through automated location tracking, state-specific policy generation, and continuous monitoring.
- Automated location detection identifies which state laws apply to each employee based on work location. When an employee relocates from Texas to Colorado, the system identifies Colorado’s paid sick leave law and other mandatory policies.
- State-specific document generation creates compliant handbooks and policies for each jurisdiction. The software writes California meal break language for California employees and Massachusetts earned sick time policies for Massachusetts employees.
- Continuous legal monitoring tracks law changes affecting your remote workforce. Legal update features alert you when laws change, explain which policies are affected, and provide updated language.
- Multi-state poster compliance delivers current posters to remote employees automatically. The software identifies which posters each employee needs, provides digital versions, and tracks delivery confirmations.
- Audit trail documentation maintains proof of compliance—when employees acknowledged policies, which handbook version they received, and when posters were delivered.
Why SixFifty Helps Remote Teams Stay Compliant
SixFifty’s platform addresses remote work compliance through location-based policy automation and continuous legal monitoring. The employee handbook builder generates state-specific policies based on where remote employees work, ensuring California employees receive California-compliant handbooks and New York employees receive New York-compliant handbooks.
The system handles multi-state complexity automatically. When you add your first Colorado remote employee, SixFifty identifies Colorado’s compliance requirements and provides a checklist of steps.
Digital labor law posters deliver state-specific posters to each employee based on work location, maintain delivery proof for audits, and update automatically when laws change.
Legal updates maintain compliance as laws change. When states amend employment laws affecting remote workers, SixFifty provides updated policy language and implementation guidance.
FAQs About Remote HR Compliance
Do remote workers follow the laws where they work or where the company is located?
Remote workers follow the laws of their work location, not company headquarters. A California employee working remotely requires California meal breaks and expense reimbursement—even for a Texas-headquartered company.
What if a remote employee temporarily works in a different state?
Brief business travel (under 30 days) typically doesn’t trigger new state obligations. Extended temporary work (30+ days) may require compliance with temporary work location laws. Permanent relocation requires full compliance.
How do we handle pay transparency for remote positions posted nationally?
If a remote position could be performed in a pay transparency state, include salary ranges. The safest approach: include salary ranges in all remote job postings.
Can we require remote employees to work from certain states?
Yes. You can limit hiring to specific states where you’re already registered and compliant. Many companies restrict remote work to 10-15 states.
What’s the biggest compliance mistake remote employers make?
Assuming their headquarters state laws apply to all employees. Use location-specific policies rather than one-size-fits-all approaches.
Get a Remote HR Compliance Checklist Now
Remote work compliance requires tracking obligations across multiple jurisdictions—a complexity that grows as your remote workforce expands. Manual checklists and periodic legal reviews can’t keep pace with the volume of requirements or velocity of law changes.
A comprehensive HR compliance checklist helps identify which requirements apply to your remote workforce and where gaps exist. Companies with remote employees in five or more states typically benefit from compliance automation.
The risk of non-compliance increases with each additional state. Building a systematic compliance checklist—whether manual or automated—reduces these risks dramatically.
Build or demo SixFifty’s handbook builder
SixFifty’s platform generates state-specific HR policies for remote teams and maintains compliance automatically as laws change. Build your remote work compliance checklist: Start your handbook or schedule a demo to review your multi-state compliance gaps.
