Opinion ID: 3053944
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Interests of the Respective States

Text: [8] California has a clear interest in the economic welfare of its own residents who perform work in California, both in ensuring that they have work and that such work is fairly compensated. California also has an interest in the effect compensation for nonresidents working in California will have on the compensation for California residents. The Labor Code provides: It is the policy of this state to vigorously enforce minimum labor standards in order to ensure employees are not required or permitted to work under substandard unlawful conditions or for employers that have not secured the payment of compensation, and to protect employers who comply with the law from those who attempt to gain a competitive advantage at the expense of their workers by failing to comply with minimum labor standards. 15272 SULLIVAN v. ORACLE CORP. Cal. Lab. Code § 90.5(a). See also Lusardi Const. Co. v. Aubry, 824 P.2d 643, 648 (Cal. 1992) (describing California’s public policy interests in enforcing § 90.5(a) for all work performed within its boundaries). If a California employer may avoid the requirements of the state Labor Code by the simple expedient of hiring nonresidents, California residents will be substantially disadvantaged in the labor market by the cheaper labor that will thereby be made available to California employers. [9] We next compare California’s interest in applying its Labor Code to work performed by nonresidents in California with the interests of Colorado and Arizona in applying the terms of their minimum wage laws (or the absence thereof) to work performed by their residents in California. Colorado has expressed the same interests as California in the welfare of its workers. The Colorado minimum wage statute provides: The welfare of the State of Colorado demands that workers be protected from conditions of labor that have a pernicious effect on their health and morals. . . . The general assembly hereby finds and deter- mines that issues related to the wages of workers in Colorado have important ramifications for the labor force in this state. The general assembly, therefore, declares that the minimum wages of workers in this state are a matter of statewide concern. Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 8-6-101(1) & (2). However, Colorado law provides no protection whatsoever to workers performing work outside Colorado. Id. § 1103.1(1) (providing that the Wage Order “regulates wages, hours, working conditions and procedures for certain employers and employees for work performed within the boundaries of the state of Colorado”). Thus, the interests expressed generally in Colorado’s minimum wage statute are not significant here, where the only work at issue was performed in California. SULLIVAN v. ORACLE CORP. 15273 However, Oracle argues that Colorado has a strong interest in the application of its overtime law (or lack thereof) to the Colorado plaintiffs in this case, contending that Colorado has expressed a general interest in the extraterritorial application of its wage laws. To support its argument, Oracle cites Hathaway Lighting, Inc. v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office, 143 P.3d 1187, 1190 (Colo. Ct. App. 2006), for the proposition that the Colorado Court of Appeals has affirmed the power of Colorado to control the terms of employment of Coloradans temporarily working outside Colorado because of “the state’s interest in the welfare and protection of its citizens.” However, that language in Hathaway Lighting indicated the court’s approval of the interests motivating the Colorado Workers’ Compensation Act, which has an explicit extraterritorial provision. Id. at 1189. Hathaway Lighting is of limited help in evaluating Colorado’s interests in the extraterritorial application of overtime regulations that are explicitly limited in their application to work performed within Colorado’s geographic boundaries. [10] As indicated above, Arizona has no state law regulating overtime work. Protection is provided to Arizona workers by the FLSA, which operates uniformly, as federal law, throughout the country. Arizona has thus expressed no interest in the wages paid to its residents except such interest as is expressed in the FLSA. [11] Nevertheless, we are willing to assume for the sake of argument that Colorado and Arizona do in fact have interests in the welfare of their residents when they work in other states, even if those states have never expressed this interest with respect to their overtime laws. However, we cannot discern how these interests would in any way conflict with the interest of California in applying its Labor Code to Colorado and Arizona residents performing work in California. To the degree that Colorado or Arizona would be interested in the economic welfare of its residents working in California, these states both have an interest in the application of California 15274 SULLIVAN v. ORACLE CORP. rather than Colorado or Arizona law, for California’s Labor Code is by any measure the most advantageous to the employee. We fail to see any interest Colorado or Arizona have in ensuring that their residents are paid less when working in California than California residents who perform the same work. [12] We therefore conclude that California has a strong interest in applying its Labor Code to the work performed by Plaintiffs in California. By contrast, we conclude that Colorado and Arizona have no interest in applying their minimum wage laws (or lack thereof) to Plaintiffs’ work in California.