| GLOBAL MOBILITY
US - CALIFORNIA
KEY TAKEAWAYS Businesses and individuals navigating cross-border mobility in the U.S. must address work authorisation, taxation, and employment regulations. Work authorisation is mandatory, even for remote workers, with severe penalties for non-compliance. Earnings are taxed federally and at the state level, requiring businesses to register and pay payroll taxes. Misclassifying workers as independent contractors can lead to significant legal and financial consequences. Effective global mobility planning involves addressing immigration, taxation, cybersecurity, and cultural
Change in
Q3 Is globalisation on the wane? How do recent political events create new opportunities in global mobility?
adaptation. Employees relocating to the U.S. may require salary adjustments, housing support, and private health insurance. Service providers must coordinate legal, tax, and business advisory teams to ensure smooth transitions.
the USA
Rebecca Torrey Partner The Torrey Firm
While nationalism and immigration restrictions pose short-term
challenges, technological advancements and economic interdependence continue to drive global mobility. Strategic planning and cross-cultural cooperation remain essential for businesses to navigate evolving policies and opportunities.
Advances in technology and communication continue to generate rich opportunities for business and growth on a global level. With the reach of the Internet and media and the blending of cultures, it is hard to imagine an overall decline in globalisation when considering the trends. Immediate political developments in certain jurisdictions, including the United States, signal a return to nationalism, isolationism and xenophobia. That may inhibit global mobility in the short run as countries crack down on immigration, limit access to visas, and enact and react to trade restrictions including tariffs. The benefits of global cooperation and mobility in the long run, however, outweigh the immediate challenges. It is incumbent on those of us who assist clients in developing global mobility strategies to work through the process, enable cross-cultural understanding, minimise differences and develop practical solutions that will benefit everyone involved looking ahead to the future.
Q1 What are the key considerations for businesses and individuals navigating cross-border mobility in your jurisdiction? The key considerations from an employment law perspective in cross- border mobility are the authorisation to work, taxation, and the regulation of employment. Individuals who work in the United States are required to provide current authorisation in the form of a work visa. Even people
working remotely in the US require work authorisation. Working without it has severe consequences for individuals, including deportation and ineligibility for future permanent residency. Taxation of earnings in the United States occurs at several levels. Individual income earned in the US is subject to federal tax plus taxation by the state where the work is performed. Only seven of the fifty states do not tax individual compensation on the state level. Companies conducting business in the United States are required to register to do business at the federal and state
levels and pay payroll and corporate taxes to federal, state and often local taxing authorities. Registering with all the various taxing authorities is a prerequisite to paying an individual for work performed in the jurisdiction. For businesses hoping to avoid the trouble by retaining workers as independent contractors, the misclassification of workers as contractors or freelancers for purposes of simplification or tax avoidance can result in significant penalties, interest and the possibility of an imposition of unpaid personal income taxes on the employer. Employers must comply with federal
employment laws and the laws of the states where employees render services. The overall level of employment regulation varies across the country and turns, to a certain degree, on cultural differences involving politics, religion, history and education. Some metropolitan areas impose added ordinances, mostly commonly with respect to minimum wages, paid sick time, leaves of absence and background screening of candidates due to perceived shortcomings in state and federal legislation. Q2 How can service providers help clients structure global mobility strategies (e.g. regulatory, tax, financial efficiency)? While a cross-border workforce can assist with talent shortages, provide new markets for business and can enable employees to build their skills and capabilities, it brings significant challenges. Besides issues involving immigration, taxation and overall regulation, global mobility may bring heightened cyber risk, data privacy concerns, management oversight problems and longer-term issues involving the reintegration of employees after completing a cross-border assignment. Employees assigned to work in the United States will need advice
and support in many different areas, including advice concerning immigration limitations, the taxation of income and managing potential double taxation, cultural and language differences, and the logistics of resettling family and households, among other things. Depending on the location of a work assignment, the relative cost of living often requires a pay adjustment plus living allowance to make a move feasible. Service providers assisting with global mobility need to plan ahead and offer a team strategy to implement each step in the appropriate sequence. This involves immigration and employment counsel, international tax counsel and local accountants, plus business and consulting advice for the range of issues involved.
Rebecca represents companies in litigation in federal and state courts nationwide. She is an across-the-board employment lawyer with significant trial experience representing management in bet-the-company cases involving wage and hour and fair credit class actions, trade secret, wrongful termination, discrimination and fair pay claims. Rebecca provides strategic advice to companies aimed towards aligning personnel practices with an employer’s culture, values and priorities and minimising legal risk. She is committed to developing a client’s understanding of the law to improve human resources practices and guide business forward. A frequent speaker and writer on key developments and cutting-edge legal issues, Rebecca is known for pragmatic, out-of-the-box solutions that support strategic growth. Rebecca’s clients include healthcare companies, professional services firms, entertainment, digital media and technology innovators, manufacturers and recyclers, and tax-exempt organisations, operating both domestically and internationally. She has been ranked by ChambersUSA multiple times, is honored by her peers as one of the Best Lawyers in America and recognised for her trial successes as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel in America. Selected by the professional services network IRGlobal as its exclusive California employment practitioner, Rebecca contributes thought leadership and provides guidance on developing areas of employment law to professionals around the world.
ABOUT US... torreyfirm.com
The Torrey Firm represent employers in litigation and advise management on a broad range of employment matters. From creating effective personnel practices to defending employers at trial, we have the experience and judgement to help manage the maze of regulation and the risk of litigation that comes with it. As workplaces reflect societal developments, leadership and culture, changes in personnel practices will occur. We assist businesses in looking ahead strategically and collaboratively to improve human resource practices and reduce unnecessary risk.
Having spent years in large law firms with a hefty overhead, Rebecca Torrey founded The Torrey Firm on the principle that employers should have extraordinary resources available at reasonable rates. We provide those resources both virtually and in-person as businesses assess and recreate their own workplaces.
+1 (310) 310-2992 rebecca@torreyfirm.com irglobal.com/advisor/rebecca-torrey
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