New-Hire Paperwork, Explained: The Forms You Sign in the First Week and What Each One Does

The employment eligibility form (Form I-9) has two halves. In Section 1 the employee enters a current legal name, address, date of birth and one citizenship or immigration status, then signs, by the first day the employee starts work for pay². A Social Security number is optional unless the employer uses E-Verify². An employer may not ask someone who has not yet accepted a job offer to complete Section 1².

Section 2 is the employer’s. Within three business days of the date employment begins, the employer examines the document or documents the employee presents and certifies them. The employee chooses which acceptable documents to show, and the employer cannot specify them³. One List A document, or one List B plus one List C, is enough²¹. The lists, the 90-day receipt rule and the E-Verify steps are on Form I-9: which documents to bring.

Employers do not file the I-9 with USCIS or ICE; they keep it¹. The form edition matters: the USCIS page lists 01/20/25 as the current edition, and USCIS says the edition date is printed at the bottom of the form and the expiration date at the top¹.

Two forms set income tax withholding, and they cover different governments. The federal Form W-4 sets only federal income tax withholding; the California DE 4 sets California personal income tax withholding. The DE 4 states that since January 1, 2020 the W-4 “is used for federal income tax withholding only”⁷.

Form W-4. The 2026 form has five steps: personal information and filing status, multiple jobs or a working spouse, dependents and other credits, other adjustments, and a signature⁶. The IRS says to ask each new employee to complete the current form, and that an employee completes a new one when personal or financial circumstances change⁴⁶. If an employee gives the employer no form or an incomplete one, the employer withholds as if the employee were single or married filing separately with no entries in Steps 2, 3 or 4⁵. The step-by-step description is on how to fill out Form W-4.

DE 4. The current copy is Rev. 56 (1-26). It asks for filing status, a number of allowances and an optional extra amount per pay period. “If you do not provide your employer a completed DE 4, your employer must use Single with Zero withholding allowance”⁷. The differences between the two forms are on California DE 4 vs the federal W-4.

Good to know An employee who claims exempt from withholding does so on both forms, and the claim lapses each year. The 2026 W-4 says a new form is needed by February 16, 2027 to stay exempt⁶. The DE 4 says February 15 each year⁷.

California employers must give a new hire a written notice at hiring under Labor Code section 2810.5. The Labor Commissioner’s FAQ says it must be provided “at the time of hiring” and “in no event later than the first day services are performed by the employee”⁸. The statute lists pay rates and how they are calculated, any overtime rates, allowances claimed toward minimum wage, the regular payday, the employer’s name and any “doing business as” names, the address of the main office, a telephone number, the workers’ compensation carrier’s name, address and phone number, paid sick leave rights, and any emergency or disaster declaration for the employee’s county issued in the 30 days before the first day of work⁹. The statute’s text does not say the employee must sign it⁹.

Sources disagree The Labor Commissioner’s FAQ lists seven items and does not include paid sick leave rights or the emergency declaration; the statute lists both⁸⁹. The statute controls; the FAQ page may be outdated.

If any of the information changes, the employer must notify the employee in writing within seven calendar days, unless every change shows up on a timely wage statement or in another writing the law requires⁹. The notice must be in the language the employer normally uses for employment communications⁹. Employees exempt from overtime are excluded from this section⁹. How the wage statement itself is built is on California pay stub requirements and how to read a pay stub.

Direct deposit. California law allows an employer to deposit wages in a bank, savings and loan or credit union account “of the employee’s choice” if “the employee has voluntarily authorized that deposit”¹⁰. The statute requires voluntary authorization and does not specify a form. The authorization form itself is the employer’s own paper.

The EDD lists three employee pamphlets: DE 2320 (programs for the unemployed), DE 2515 (the disability insurance brochure) and DE 2511 (the paid family leave brochure)¹⁴. The EDD page says they are given “when needed” and states no timing. Unemployment Insurance Code section 2613 ties the notice to new hires and to employees leaving work, and that statute is the source for the timing¹³¹⁴. A separate EDD notice, DE 1857A, DE 1857D or DE 1858 depending on coverage, is posted in the workplace rather than handed to each hire¹⁴.

The workers’ compensation written notice is separate. Labor Code section 3551 and 8 CCR 9880 require a notice approved by the Administrative Director, given at hire or by the end of the first pay period, in English and Spanish¹⁵¹⁶. Its content includes the insurance carrier, emergency treatment, the right to medical care, disability and death benefits and the time limits for reporting an injury¹⁶. The Civil Rights Department (CRD) says either its sexual harassment poster or its fact sheet can be distributed to meet the legal requirement¹⁷. The employer-side list is on California new-hire paperwork.

Enrollment forms for health, retirement and other plans belong to the plan and the employer. One federal limit applies to group health coverage: a plan or issuer “must not apply any waiting period that exceeds 90 days,” and all calendar days count from the enrollment date, weekends and holidays included¹⁸. A plan may start coverage before day 91 if day 91 falls on a weekend or holiday¹⁸. The deadline to return the enrollment paperwork is in the plan’s own materials; the regulation quoted here does not set one.

California employers must report each new hire and rehire who works in California. The report, the Report of New Employee(s) (DE 34), is due within 20 calendar days of the start-of-work date, defined as “the first day services were performed for wages”¹⁹. A worker returning after at least 60 consecutive days apart counts as a rehire¹⁹. The report contains the employer’s EDD account number, federal employer identification number, name and address, and for each employee the full name, Social Security number, home address and start date¹⁹. It is filed through e-Services for Business or on paper, and the EDD also accepts a copy of the W-4 or DE 4 with the start date, EDD account number and federal employer identification number added¹⁹.

As of October 2026 the penalty is $24 for each unreported new or rehired employee, and $490 if the failure is an intentional agreement with the employee not to provide the information or if the report is false or incomplete¹⁹. Employees do not complete the DE 34.

The form that closes the loop comes after the year ends. The employer issues a Form W-2 reporting wages and withholding; for 2026 forms the employee copy and the filing with the Social Security Administration are both due February 1, 2027²⁰. Each box, and how it differs from the W-4 and from a 1099-NEC, is on W-2 vs W-4 vs 1099-NEC. The taxes on each pay stub are on what FICA is on your paycheck; overtime status is on exempt vs non-exempt in California; sick leave is on California paid sick leave; and the state-by-state pay stub rules are on pay stub rules by state.