Relocate to not get passed over by new CO law - another state or Mexico?

July 1, 2021 5:40 PM

I just had my candidacy for a job revoked because I live in Colorado. Our new Equal Pay requiring salary transparency is pushing companies away from hiring Colorado residents. (news investigation) I'm in desperate need of a temporary place to stay and rent in CO is too damn high! Might my job chances be better if in another state? Also, temporary Mexico City furnished apts. are cheap in nice parts of town. I'm a US citizen BTW.

I'm in the United States and a US citizen. A complication or maybe a blessing is that I'm staying with my folks for free at the moment, but I need to go ASAP - think Qanon stuff. It's time to go anyway now that the COVID situation is getting better. So I've been using their address as my permanent mailing address, but I'm really mobile. I also have a long-term mailing address with an international mail forwarding service in Texas because I have been an on-again and off-again expat. I don't have much furniture and the things I do have are in storage in Denver.

I just need flexible and inexpensive living arrangements until I find a job. I'm really comfortable and encouraged with where I sit as far as how the search is going. I was able to turn something down recently even.

The new Colorado law is The Equal Pay for Equal Opportunity Act. The idea is to make salary transparent especially for the benefit of protected classes of workers. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and a recent news investigation found that: Companies post jobs where you can work anywhere - except for Colorado Colorado requires any employer with at least one employee in the state to post a salary range with a good faith floor and ceiling for what they are willing to pay. This is in response to the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act that became active this year.

I had a really good interview for a job I really liked last week and got a call today from the recruiter. She told me that she put me forward for the next round of interviews but it was said from above that they were not considering candidates from CO. (The original posting did include the salary and we did discuss it in the initial call, but that's in the past).

I'm getting quite a few interviews in Colorado and a few from outside the state. I have three next week. Two of them are second rounds. One of those I don't think is a fit. I'm not sure if I have had less luck out of state because of this law or because companies are just not considering candidates relocating or both. In my field, it is pretty reasonable to expect relocation, and now with remote work becoming more prevalent, things are changing, but of course now if you live in CO, remote jobs are now off-limits with many companies. If I moved to another state to stay with family I may lose out on CO jobs where they seem most plentiful at the moment.

My living concerns are complicated by the fact that I don't have a job (I am on unemployment and that is running out) and companies may not approve me for a lease, I don't want to sign a lease because it's entirely possible that I might have to break the lease to relocate, I have no furniture. I really don't want to buy furniture and find out that I have to move in a few weeks. For a one-year leased studio, at the moment in or around Denver, I can expect to pay $1200 or maybe a little more monthly. I've looked at short-term corporate housing and it's around $3000 monthly. I'm not crazy about renting a room from a stranger. I'm not comfortable with that and I still don't know if I will have to pick up and go in a few weeks.

I've had two temporary things fall through with family and friends. I can't go to my brother's. He doesn't have space, has a new baby, and some other complications in his life.

So I can move to another state temporarily and still have challenges with finding reasonable short-term and inexpensive living arrangements. I might then lose out on Denver jobs where they seem most plentiful. I might not lose out on Denver jobs.

I can move to Mexico City to the very nice La Condessa neighborhood and find flexible, short-term apartments fully furnished from $600 monthly up to $1200. I actually have more business connections in Mexico than in Colorado. I may be able to find some work, very low-paying work paid in pesos, or an internship-type role temporarily in Mexico to explain my presence there.

I've expatriated in the past and found medium-term furnished living arrangements in Buenos Aires, Madrid and Paris before. That's really easy, especially through AirBNB and places in Mexico are available at the moment. I wouldn't have to worry about a one-year deposit, utilities or any other costs. I used to be a business development manager in Latin America so I'm familiar with the regions and comfortable there. I have friends there and miss being in a big city. It would be kind of fun too. Although I've lived and worked in other countries, I've never lived abroad while looking for a job back in the states.

I should also add that my academic expertise is in expatriation, international mobility, and cross-cultural teams, and related topics. Unfortunately, especially thanks to COVID that is not a hot job market.

I have money saved, I'm currently getting tons of interviews. Legally, I can't go to Mexico and keep my unemployment benefits which I am comfortable with. COVID is still a concern and I'm vaccinated. I need to look into safety. Security is worse than when I was last there. I just talked to a former work associate in Mexico. He says that things are all right and even offered to let me stay at his house for free. I may be able to do some work for him and use that as a reason for being there. I may be able to do some unpaid comparative academic-type research there examining work and personnel differences between the USA and Mexico.

So basically, I need a flexible, inexpensive place to stay. My home state CO is potentially problematic due to the new law and expensive. Other US states might be less expensive than Colorado but may or may not cut me off from Colorado opportunities. Mexico from an expense point of view is a perfect solution to a temporary roof over my head, but is it problematic with recruiters and hiring managers? I don't know that.

posted by Che boludo! to Work & Money (9 answers total)

Why don't you just use your Texas mailing address while job hunting?
posted by bashing rocks together at 7:36 PM on July 1, 2021 [3 favorites]

Yes, Mexico will be problematic for US jobs you want. In addition to being required to follow certain employment laws in the states where remote workers are, as you've already seen, companies are also generally required to withhold local taxes for your work location--which includes the home you're working from if you're remote. If the company doesn't already have workers established in a particular location, setting one up is not trivial, and costs both dollars and time they may not want to spend on a new employee. It's even more complex and costly if we're talking a different country rather than just a different state.

(By the way, all of the above is also why you'd want to be quite careful if you're considering the suggestion to use your Texas mailing address while job hunting. If you use that address as your home address but are physically working in another state, your company will be withholding payroll taxes for the wrong location, which will make things screwy for both of you come tax time. Fixably so, but it's very annoying to have to fix it. Plus an employer isn't likely to look kindly upon learning you lied about your work location.)

There are definitely some companies who are remote-only or remote-first that hire internationally, but they're not as common, and you'd be limiting your prospects.
posted by rhiannonstone at 7:53 PM on July 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

I have colleagues in Mexico City (i.e., they are Mexican and live there -- we are working on a project together and talk several times a week). The covid situation there is really bad still. I would definitely not advise going there now. Later when this is all over? It's an amazing city. But right now I'm not even sure it would be ethical to travel there, let alone advisable.
posted by EllaEm at 8:11 PM on July 1, 2021 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: I was planning on staying in Mexico temporarily while looking for the job in the US and come back to the US later. It's like I'm surfing a couch until I find something.
posted by Che boludo! at 8:15 PM on July 1, 2021

I get the appeal of Mexico City, but a Mexican mailing address is going to be more of an impediment to finding a job than a Colorado address, if the company believes you are going to remain where you currently live (if they don't assume that based on your listed mailing address, you could just explain you're temporarily staying with family and would leave Colorado upon securing employment, and the Equal Pay act issue would be irrelevant). Generally, employers need to comply with labor laws in the location where the work is performed and in some cases are responsible for complying with local taxes as well - most companies are not going to take on that responsibility and liability easily. Visa issues and losing unemployment are not insurmountable, but they are significant.

There are plenty of Airbnbs in the United States in the $600-$1200 month range. Honestly, I would just do an Airbnb search for a month in the USA, specify "whole place" and $1200 as your price maximum, and explore your options. They won't be as good a value on average as Mexico City, but this seems like it's likely to be a pretty temporary situation (and, like EllaEm mentions, living in Mexico City under current covid conditions might not be what you have in mind). If you're worried leaving will make you less competitive for Denver jobs, I don't think there's anything wrong with listing your last permanent address (with your parents) when you apply for those positions and explaining in your cover letter you're currently out of the state but happy to return once you have a job offer, if that's a job requirement.
posted by exutima at 8:48 PM on July 1, 2021 [2 favorites]

It sounds like things are getting much better in terms of work opportunities. You know what's best for you but I need to ask: is this the time to be so picky?! Is no job and no home better than an less-than-ideal job that you can leave after a year for something better? I ask not to be haughty but rather point out I sense some inconsistencies or at least meandering in your question. I understand it's hard to focus when you're under so much stress, so my heart goes out to you there. The bottom line is what is your ultimate goal? Is it to stay in Denver and find a full-time job there? Is it to move anywhere in the US you can get a good job? Is it to save money on rent while you find an ideal job? Is it to explore living and working in Mexico? What's more important to you, saving money or having better opportunities?
posted by smorgasbord at 11:28 PM on July 1, 2021 [4 favorites]

I would consider losing out on a job with any employer who rescinded a job “offer” because of a law requiring salary transparency to be a bullet dodged. Why don’t they want to reveal what they pay folks? Hint: it isn’t because they pay above market salaries and don’t want to make people jealous.
posted by spitbull at 2:17 AM on July 2, 2021 [17 favorites]

I feel like you're overthinking this? Use your CO address for CO-local jobs, use your TX address for remote jobs. Live wherever you want while you're job-searching, but expect to need to live in the US when you actually get hired. If you get hired for a remote job that doesn't want you to work in CO, move to TX or to literally anywhere else in the US you want.

Don't get hung up on this CO law - lots of states have unusual employment laws that it takes employers a while to figure out. There are reasons that companies don't want to hire people from CA or NY as well.
posted by mskyle at 4:59 AM on July 2, 2021 [7 favorites]

I mean you really make it sound like you’re weeks, not months, away from finding (if not needing, this part is unclear to me) a satisfactory job, after which you will know your relocation options much more concretely. If you can’t hang on with the parents a few more weeks, and don’t want to sign a local lease or share a room or rent expensive “corporate” housing, get cheap corporate housing, also known as the ubiquitous long-stay motels (with super generic names like “Homestay America”) that dot the landscape and house surprising numbers of America’s mobile/transient work force (as well as too many people facing homelessness) for a few hundred bucks a week. Get out to the Denver suburbs if you have a car and there should be plenty of options. When you land one of those many jobs you’re confident are out there, relocate as appropriate. You can get such a long stay hotel room anywhere in America outside of big cities.
posted by spitbull at 6:18 AM on July 2, 2021 [1 favorite]