State Reveals Its Template for Notice to All Newly Hired Employees

Our October 21, 2011 blog “Added Notice Requirement for California Employers” alerts employers to a required notice to newly hired workers, effective January 1, 2012, specifying basic but vital information. Under the Wage Theft Protection Act (Assembly Bill [A.B.] 469), the notice must include:

• The rate or rates of pay and basis thereof, whether paid by the hour, shift, day, week, salary, piece, commission, or otherwise, including any rates for overtime, as applicable;
• The regular payday designated by the employer;
• Allowances, if any, claimed as part of the minimum wage, including meal or lodging allowances;
• The employer’s name, including any “doing business as” names used by the employer;
• The physical address of the employer’s main office or principal place of business, and a mailing address, if different;
• The employer’s telephone number;
• The name, address, and telephone number of the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier; and
• Any other information the California Labor Commissioner deems material and necessary.

The Act also specifies that the Labor Commissioner and its Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) issue as soon as possible a template notice for employer use. This state-recommended on-line template is now available. The DLSE FAQ page adds that although the state has thus far only issued the template in English, employers must provide the notice “in the language the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information to the employee.” Thus, if management normally communicates with workers in another language, such as Spanish or Chinese, the notice must be in the applicable tongue. The DLSE plans to provide templates in other languages soon.