It’s important to plan in advance for the employee’s first day and make sure that you have all the necessary paperwork and a list of any training that’s required, including any industry specific training.

This page contains the following information:

• Complete Hiring Paperwork
• Report New or Rehired Employees to EDD’s New Employee Registry
• Provide Wage Information Upon Hire

Complete Hiring Paperwork

Once you’ve made a new hire, you’re required to give your new employee several forms under both federal and California law. Use CalChamber’s New Hire Guide to obtain most of the forms and pamphlets you’ll need for your new hire. For instance, you’ll be required to have new employees complete a Form I-9 verifying their eligibility for work, along with many other forms.

In addition to the New Hire Guide, use the Hiring Checklist to ensure that you’ve completed all the legally required forms for your new employee.

• Hiring Checklist

In addition to legally required forms, you’ll want to give your new hire other forms, such as a list of your holidays, benefits information, an emergency contact information form and a property return agreement, where applicable.

• Effective January 1, 2026, a new law requires employers to provide their employees with the opportunity to designate an emergency contact and allow the employee to indicate whether the emergency contact should be notified if the employee is arrested or detained on their worksite, or during working hours or the performance of their job duties while off the worksite.1 Employers must provide this opportunity to existing employees no later than March 30, 2026, and at the time of hire for employees hired after that date. Employers must also allow employees to provide updated contact information at any time.

The Employee Orientation Checklist serves as a starting point to assist you in ensuring that you cover all necessary topics and distribute all required forms.

• Employee Orientation Checklist

You may also want to create and use forms to record initial employee training on matters such as:

• Safety training;
• Policies and work rules;
• Benefits availability and eligibility;
• Emergency procedures;
• Harassment prevention training;
• At-will employment;
• Confidentiality;
• Internet, email, phone and other electronics usage;
• Receipt of employee handbook; and
• Employer property and equipment.

For more information on training, see Training a New Hire..

Report New or Rehired Employees to EDD’s New Employee Registry

Federal law requires all employers to report information on newly hired or rehired employees who work in California to the EDD’s New Employee Registry no later than 20 days after the start-of-work date. If you choose to report electronically, you must submit two monthly transmissions, not less than 12 days or more than 16 days apart.

The start-of-work date is the first day services were performed for wages. All employees must be reported regardless of age or projected wages, even those who work less than a full day, are part-time employees, are seasonal employees or discontinue their employment before the 20th day of employment. Employers must report the rehiring of any employee who previously worked for the employer, but who hasn’t been employed for at least 60 consecutive days.2

If you operate in multiple states, you can elect to electronically report all newly hired employees to one state in which you have employees. Multistate employers who choose to file to one state must notify the federal Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Child Support Enforcement.

You must report all of the following employee information to the EDD:

• First name, middle initial and last name.
• SSN.
• Home address.
• Start of work date.

Include the following information on your organization when you report employee information to the EDD:

• Business name and address.
• California Employer Account Number.
• Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).
• Contact person’s name and telephone number.

You can use any of the following to report information to the EDD:

• New Employees Report - Form DE34.
• W-4 - Employees Withholding Allowance Certificate.
• Alternate equivalent form.

• New Employees Report - Form DE34
• W-4 - Employees Withholding Allowance Certificate

If you report using W-4 Forms, you must add the employee’s start-of-work date, your California employer account number and Federal Employment Identification Number to the form.

You can access Form DE 34 - New Employees Report from the EDD’s website.

You must file your reports online or by mail:

Employment Development Department
P.O. Box 997016, MIC 96
West Sacramento, CA 95799-7016
Fax: (916) 319-4400

Or call the EDD’s New Employee Registry and Independent Contractor Reporting at (916) 657-0529, or the Taxpayer Assistance Center at (888) 745-3886.

For information on reporting independent contractors to the EDD, see “Reporting Obligations and Independent Contractor” in Independent Contractor.

Provide Wage Information Upon Hire

You must provide nonexempt employees with specific wage information at the time of hire.3 Employers may use the Labor Commissioner's model notice called “Wage and Employment Notice to Employees” that complies with the specific requirements, which include:

• The rate(s) of pay and basis (hourly, by a shift, day, week, salary, piece, commission or otherwise), including applicable overtime rates.
• Allowances, if any, claimed as part of minimum wage, including meal or lodging allowances.
• The regular payday designated by the employer.
• The employer’s name, including any “doing business as” names used.
• The physical address of the employer’s main office or principal place of business and, if different, a mailing address.
• The employer’s phone number.
• The name, address and phone number of the employer’s workers’ compensation carrier.
• That an employee may accrue and use paid sick leave; has a right to request and use accrued paid sick leave; may not be terminated or retaliated against for using or requesting to use paid sick leave; and has a right to file a complaint against an employer who retaliates.
• Any other information the Labor Commissioner deems material and necessary.

Temporary service employers must also include the name, main office’s physical address, mailing address if different from the main office’s physical address, and the telephone number of the legal entity for whom the employee will perform work, as well as any other information the Labor Commissioner deems material and necessary. Security service companies are exempt from this requirement.

Employers must also provide information regarding the existence of a federal or state disaster declaration issued within 30 days before employee's first day of employment and applicable to the county or counties in which the employee will be employed.

Additionally, if employers have H-2A agricultural employees, then, as part of the notice described above, employers must provide their H-2A employees with additional information regarding their rights and benefits under California law, including:

• Information addressing the federal H-2A program wage rate required to be paid during the contract period;
• Overtime wage rates;
• Frequency of pay;
• Pay for piece rate workers;
• Meal and rest periods;
• Transportation travel time compensation when required, including transportation from housing to work sites;
• Employee housing rights;
• Nonretaliation protections for complaints or organizing;
• Contents of itemized wage statements;
• Sexual harassment prohibitions;
• Requirements regarding availability of potable water, handwashing facilities and toilets;
• Requirements relating to hot weather working conditions and the availability of shade;
• Pesticide exposure protections;
• Workplace safety requirements,
• Training and correction of hazards;
• Transportation in defined farm labor vehicles;
• Prohibitions against tool or equipment charges,
• Prohibitions against deductions for meals not taken;
• Training and necessary equipment and lighting for night work;
• Prohibitions against use of short-handled hoes and limits on hand weeding;
• Employee-paid health insurance;
• Right to accrue and take sick leave;
• Workers’ compensation coverage, disability pay, and medical care for injuries; and
• The right to complain to state or federal agencies and to seek advice from collective bargaining representatives or legal assistance organizations.

The above information must be provided to H-2A employees in Spanish in a separate and distinct section of the employee notice. The California Labor Commissioner created a template notice employers may use for this requirement.

In addition to providing notice at the time of hire, the employer must notify employees, in writing, of any changes to the information above, within seven calendar days after the time a change was made, unless:

• All changes are reflected on a timely wage statement that meets all legal requirements.
• Notice is provided in another writing required by law within seven days of the change.

• Wage and Employment Notice to Employees (Labor Code section 2810.5)
• Wage and Employment Notice to Employees (Labor Code section 2810.5) - Spanish

More information and frequently asked questions about this requirement may be found on the Labor Commissioner’s website.

Employees not covered by the written statement requirement include those who are:

• Exempt from the payment of overtime wages by statute or Wage Order;
• Employees of the state or any political subdivision (city, county, city and county or special district); and
• Covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

In addition to the Wage and Employment Notice to Employees, California requires written commission agreements for commissioned employees. See “Written Commission Agreements” in Commission.

1. Lab. Code sec. 1555