How Far May a State Labor Law Reach?

“So goes California, so goes the nation,” it is sometimes said. Nothing could be more true after the California Supreme Court’s recent decision in Sullivan v. OracleCorp. (Sullivan II), 51 Cal. 4th 1191 (Cal. 2011), which held that nonexempt employees who do not live in California, but who travel occasionally to California on business, must be paid overtime under California’s strict overtime laws for work performed in California. The court declined to address the application of the myriad of California’s laws related to overtime such as rest and meal periods, compensable travel time, accrual or forfeiture of vacation time, and overtime exemptions, although one must now consider these in determining the traveling employee’s right to overtime.