You Live in Dallas, Your Employer Is in New York: A Choice-of-Law Guide from Wrongful Termination Lawyers in Dallas

Your paychecks came from a Manhattan address. Your manager sat in an office you visited twice. You worked out of a spare bedroom in Lake Highlands for three years, and then a video call ended your job. Whose law decides whether that firing was legal? Remote hiring has made this one of the first questions wrongful termination lawyers in Dallas have to answer, and the intuitive guess is usually wrong. The state on your offer letter’s letterhead rarely controls.

If I work remotely from Dallas for a New York company, whose law protects me?

Texas law almost always governs, because employment discrimination statutes follow the place where the work is performed rather than the place where the company is incorporated or headquartered.

Courts look at where you physically sat while doing the job, where your wages were reported for tax purposes, where your workspace was, and where the consequences of the termination landed. A person living in Dallas and logging in from Dallas is employed in Texas for these purposes, even when every decision-maker is in Midtown. The Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, found at Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code, covers that employment relationship. Federal statutes such as Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA apply no matter which state you sit in.

Does New York’s stronger discrimination law apply to me at all?

Usually not, and this surprises people who have read about how protective New York law is.

The New York State Human Rights Law does reach further than Texas law in real ways. It covers employers of any size, while Chapter 21 and Title VII both require at least 15 employees. Its harassment standard asks whether conduct rose above petty slights and trivial inconveniences, which is easier to satisfy than the severe or pervasive test.

Access to that law is the obstacle. New York’s highest court held in Hoffman v. Parade Publications that a nonresident must show the discriminatory act had an impact within New York. The plaintiff there worked in Georgia and was fired during a call with executives in Manhattan, and the court found that was not enough. A Dallas worker terminated by New York management sits in nearly the same position. The decision was made there. The harm occurred here.

Can my employment contract force New York law onto my claim?

For contract disputes, often yes. For discrimination and retaliation claims, generally no.

A choice-of-law clause is a contract term saying which state’s law interprets the agreement. It binds the parties on questions like severance calculations, bonus eligibility, and restrictive covenants. Statutory claims sit outside that bargain, because they belong to the public policy of the state where the work happened and are not yours to trade away in an offer letter.

Texas courts follow Section 187 of the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws, which lets a court disregard the chosen state’s law when applying it would violate a fundamental policy of a state with a materially greater interest. In DeSantis v. Wackenhut Corp., the Texas Supreme Court declined to apply Florida law to a noncompete against a Texas employee for exactly that reason. The same reasoning protects a Dallas resident’s ability to bring a Chapter 21 claim.

What if my contract says I have to sue in New York?

Choice of law and choice of forum are separate questions, and a forum selection clause is often enforceable even when Texas law supplies the substance of your claim.

Under the Supreme Court’s decision in Atlantic Marine Construction Co. v. U.S. District Court, a valid forum selection clause should be honored in all but exceptional cases. You may end up litigating Texas claims in a New York courtroom. Arbitration agreements can move the dispute out of court entirely, though the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2022 gives you the option to void arbitration for claims involving sexual harassment or assault.

Venue matters even for identical federal claims, because circuits interpret them differently. A Title VII case in the Fifth Circuit is governed by that circuit’s precedent, not the Second Circuit’s.

Which deadline runs first?

The Texas clock is the short one, and missing it can end a claim that would still be timely in New York.

• 180 days to file a complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division under Chapter 21
• 300 days to file a charge with the EEOC, since Texas is a deferral state
• 90 days to file suit after an EEOC right to sue letter
• 180 days to file an unpaid wage claim under the Texas Payday Law

New York allows three years to file an administrative discrimination complaint with its Division of Human Rights and six years for most wage claims. Relying on those longer windows is a mistake when Texas law is the law that actually governs you. The deadline runs from the day you were notified of the termination, not your last day on payroll.

Where you sat while you worked usually decides which rules apply, but contract terms, forum clauses, and arbitration agreements can complicate that answer well before anyone reaches the merits. If a company outside Texas ended your job, the wrongful termination lawyers in Dallas at Mundaca Law can review your agreements and identify which claims are available and which deadlines are already running. Have that conversation early, while the 180-day window is still open.