In this series, we will explore some of the ways states vary from one another in their employment laws.

I spent the bulk of 2025 writing about how diverse state laws make management of an interstate workforce more complicated. Now I’m starting 2026 by adding another complication: some cities and counties have their own laws that make things even more confusing!

Sometimes, city and state laws appear to fit together nicely. For example, New York has strict requirements for sexual harassment training, recordkeeping of employee complaints, and special language in employer sexual harassment policies. New York City has its own sexual harassment prevention law with specific training requirements. The laws are not identical, but they have similar standards for what constitutes unlawful harassment, require similar training, and otherwise work together neatly.

Conversely, sometimes state and local laws don’t fit together so cleanly, even when they have the same general intent. For example, the Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act generally contemplates one bucket of paid leave that employees can use for any reason, and employers cannot ask employees why they are taking leave. In contrast, Chicago’s paid leave ordinances contemplate two buckets of paid leave, one for vacation and one for sick leave, so employers have to ask Chicago employees why they are taking leave so that the right category of leave can be charged. 

Typically, Illinois’ paid leave law does not apply to employees if they are subject to another paid leave law such as Chicago’s. However, Chicago’s law only applies when an employee is working in Chicago. In an age of hybrid and remote work, employees might work in Chicago part of the week and outside the city part of the week, meaning they could be covered under two inconsistent paid leave laws that do not work together.

Sometimes state law is actually hostile to local law. Currently, 25 states have passed laws prohibiting cities from passing local minimum wages higher than the state rate. Texas enacted legislation to prohibit municipal ordinances such as Austin’s ban the box law and paid sick leave law that were inconsistent with state law.

Employers must continue to comply with state laws when preparing their employment policies. They should also pay attention to any relevant local laws and note that such local laws may not be consistent with state law requirements.