Notice to Employee in California: Contents, Timing, and Penalties

In California, the Notice to Employee required by Labor Code section 2810.5 must be given in writing to every new non-exempt hire on or before their first day of work. It has to state the employee’s pay rates and overtime rate, the regular payday, paid sick leave rights, the employer’s legal identity and contact information, and the workers’ compensation carrier’s details. Government workers, employees who are exempt from overtime, and workers covered by a qualifying collective bargaining agreement are the only groups outside the requirement.¹

Who Must Receive It

If a worker is entitled to overtime under state law, the employer owes them the notice at hiring. Three groups are excluded:

Employees of the state, a county, a city, or a special district.
Workers classified as exempt under statute or Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders.
Workers under a collective bargaining agreement that sets wages, hours, and working conditions and provides premium overtime rates plus a regular hourly rate at least 30 percent above the state minimum wage.¹

The 30 percent threshold has a live number attached to it. California’s minimum wage is $16.90 per hour as of January 1, 2026, so a qualifying CBA must guarantee roughly $21.97 per hour or more for the exemption to apply.² Skipping the notice based on a misclassification is a real risk if the classification is later challenged.

What Has To Be In the Notice

Employers can use the Labor Commissioner’s template, form DLSE-NTE (last revised November 2023), or draft their own document, as long as every required item appears.³

Pay Rate and Payday

The notice must state the rate of pay and its basis: hourly, salary, piece rate, commission, shift, or another structure. If the worker will earn different rates for different tasks or shifts, each rate gets its own line. Overtime rates must appear. The document has to identify the regular payday and disclose any allowances the employer claims toward minimum wage, such as credits for meals or lodging.¹

Employer Identity

The employer section requires the legal name of the hiring entity, any “doing business as” names, the physical address of the main office, mailing address, and telephone number. If a staffing agency, temporary services firm, or professional employer organization handles payroll, that entity must also be identified by name, address, and phone number.⁴

Paid Sick Leave

Since January 1, 2024, California requires a minimum of five days or 40 hours of paid sick leave per year, whichever is greater. The notice must inform employees of this right and say whether the employer uses accrual (typically one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked) or frontloads the full amount at the start of the benefit year.⁵ It must also tell workers they cannot be fired or retaliated against for using sick leave and that they can file a complaint if that happens. Some cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, impose higher sick leave minimums, and employers in those jurisdictions need to reflect local requirements.

Workers’ Compensation Carrier

Every notice must include the name, address, telephone number, and policy number of the employer’s workers’ compensation carrier. Self-insured employers must disclose that status and provide their certificate number.⁴ A blank or outdated carrier line can delay an injured worker’s claim and expose the employer to penalties.

Staffing Agency Placements

When a staffing agency places a worker at a client company, the notice must identify both entities: the staffing agency as the hiring employer and the client business where the employee will actually perform work. The client’s name, main office address, mailing address, and telephone number all have to appear.¹ If a temp worker is hurt or has a wage dispute, this is what tells them which entity handles workers’ comp and which runs payroll.

Timing, Format, and Language

The notice must be in the employee’s hands at the time of hiring, meaning on or before the first day of work. There is no grace period, and it cannot wait until orientation wraps up.¹

Delivery can be on paper or electronic, as long as the employee can download and print it. A paper copy handed over on day one and signed by the employee is the cleanest approach from an evidence standpoint.

If the state has published a translated version of the template in the employee’s primary language, the employer must provide it in that language. The Labor Commissioner currently offers translations in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.³ If an employee’s primary language is not among those, the employer should take reasonable steps to make sure the worker understands the notice, such as using an interpreter or a bilingual supervisor.

The law does not require a signed acknowledgment, but getting one is smart practice. A signature proves delivery and forecloses the “I never received it” defense. If an employee refuses to sign, document the attempt: note the date, have a witness present, or send a follow-up email confirming the notice was provided.

When the Notice Has To Be Reissued

Employers must issue a revised notice within seven calendar days whenever any of the required information changes, unless the change already shows up on a timely wage statement. Common triggers include a new pay rate, a switch to a different payroll provider, a change in the workers’ compensation carrier, or an update to the sick leave policy.¹ Fluctuating pay structures in hospitality, construction, agriculture, and retail tend to generate the most update obligations.

Recordkeeping

Employers must keep a copy of every notice issued. Section 2810.5 does not specify a retention period, but the broader payroll recordkeeping rule under Labor Code section 1174 requires records to be preserved for at least three years.⁶ Holding onto notices for at least three years after an employee’s last day of work aligns with the statute of limitations on most wage claims. Electronic storage is fine as long as records are easily retrievable and printable. The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement can request them during an investigation.³

What Non-Compliance Costs

An employee who never received a proper notice, or received one with inaccurate information, can file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner or pursue a civil lawsuit. Section 2810.5 was created by the Wage Theft Protection Act to give workers a clear paper trail of their pay terms.

The larger financial exposure runs through the Private Attorneys General Act. PAGA allows a single employee to sue on behalf of the state and recover civil penalties for Labor Code violations, with a portion distributed to affected workers.⁷ California reformed PAGA in 2024 with a tiered penalty structure. Employers who took reasonable steps toward compliance before receiving a complaint can see penalties reduced to as low as 15 percent of the base amount, and employers who cure violations within 60 days of a PAGA notice can cap penalties at 30 percent. Purely clerical pay-stub errors now carry lower per-violation penalties than substantive wage violations. Even so, penalties are assessed per employee per pay period, so a company with 50 workers that skipped the notice for a year is looking at hundreds of individual violations.

Employees who complain about a missing or defective notice are protected from retaliation under Labor Code section 98.6. An employer who fires, demotes, or otherwise punishes a worker for raising a wage-notice issue faces a penalty of up to $10,000 per violation, payable directly to the worker, on top of any back pay or damages the worker recovers.⁸

1
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 2810.5
2
California Department of Industrial Relations. Minimum Wage
3
California Department of Industrial Relations. Wage Theft Protection Act of 2011 – Notice to Employees – Frequently Asked Questions
4
California Department of Industrial Relations. Notice to Employee (Labor Code section 2810.5)
5
California Department of Industrial Relations. Healthy Workplace Healthy Family Act of 2014 (AB 1522)
6
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 1174
7
Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Frequently Asked Questions
8
California Department of Industrial Relations. Retaliation and Discrimination Complaints