California: New-Hire Wage Notice Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law and coverage

Labor Code § 2810.5 is the general California new-hire wage-notice rule for
private employment. Its definition removes three employee groups from the
ordinary requirement:

An employee who is exempt from the payment of overtime wages by statute or
the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission.

The collective-bargaining exception requires an agreement that expressly
covers wages, hours, and working conditions, premium overtime rates, and a
regular hourly rate at least 30 percent above the state minimum wage. It is not
a blanket union-workforce exception.

Delivery timing and form

The statute requires the employer, “[a]t the time of hiring,” to provide each
covered employee a written notice. The Labor Commissioner says the notice may
be delivered electronically only through a system that lets the worker
acknowledge receipt and print a copy.

The agency also says the notice may accompany an offer letter or employment
agreement, but must remain its own form. The employee should not have to
assemble the required information from several documents or handbook pages.

Pay rate, basis, and overtime

The notice must state:

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.

“Rate or rates” matters when the employee will work at more than one rate. The
Labor Commissioner says all applicable rates belong on the notice; a clearly
referenced attachment can carry a rate schedule when needed.

Hours, payday, allowances, and deductions

California requires the regular payday and any meal or lodging allowance
claimed as part of minimum wage. The ordinary § 2810.5(a)(1) list does not add
normal hours, the time or place of payment, or planned deductions as separate
fields.

The acknowledgment on the state form does not itself create the separate
voluntary written agreement needed to credit meals or lodging toward minimum
wage. Signing confirms receipt, not agreement to the allowance.

Employer identity, insurance, and other contents

The ordinary notice identifies the legal employer and every doing-business-as
name, the main-office address and a different mailing address, the employer's
telephone number, and the workers' compensation carrier's name, address, and
telephone number.

It also states specified paid-sick-leave rights and whether a federal or state
emergency or disaster declaration was issued within 30 days before the first
workday, applies to the work county, and may affect the employee's health and
safety. A temporary-services employer generally adds the name and contact
information of the client entity for which the employee will work.

Language, template, and acknowledgment

Section 2810.5 requires the notice “in the language the employer normally uses
to communicate employment-related information to the employee.” The Labor
Commissioner must publish compliant templates, but an employer may develop its
own notice if it includes every required item, including information the
Commissioner placed on the template.

The ordinary statute does not require the employee to sign. DLSE describes the
acknowledgment on its form as optional and says the employer should still give
the notice when an employee refuses to sign.

Change notice and record retention

California's seven-day clock runs after the change, not before it:

An employer shall notify their employees in writing of any changes to the
information set forth in the notice within seven calendar days after the
time of the changes.

A separate change notice is unnecessary when all changes appear on a timely
§ 226 wage statement or another writing required by law within seven days. The
section does not state a notice-copy retention period. The Labor Commissioner
nevertheless tells employers to keep a record of notices they provide.

Enforcement, remedies, and local overlays

The notice is not waivable. Section 2804 says any employee agreement to waive
the benefits of the article containing § 2810.5 “is null and void.”

Section 2810.5 itself states no notice-specific dollar penalty, damages amount,
or private-action formula. This page therefore does not assign a fixed remedy
to a notice-only violation. City or county wage-notice rules may add duties,
but local law is outside this state-table survey.

What trips people up

H-2A employees have a separate statutory workflow. Beginning with work in
California or work for a new H-2A employer, the employer must give the
Labor-Commissioner template in Spanish on that first workday. Under
§ 2810.5(d), use of that template is mandatory. The employee may also request
it in English.

A staffing assignment can change the notice. A temporary-services employer
generally lists the client entity at hire. If a later placement changes that
information, the seven-day change process applies unless one of the statutory
writing exceptions covers it.

Common questions

What if the employee has several pay rates?

List every applicable rate and its basis. DLSE permits a clearly referenced
attachment when a rate sheet is needed, but the notice must tell the employee
when the different rates apply.

Does signing the notice approve meal or lodging credits?

No. The state form says the signature only acknowledges receipt and does not
serve as the separate voluntary written agreement required for a meal or
lodging credit.

Must the client business give another notice to a staffing-agency employee?

DLSE says no separate client notice is required when the staffing agency gives
the required notice and includes the client information. The rule identifies
the work entity; it does not by itself decide which entity has wage liability.

Statutes and sources

• Cal. Lab. Code § 2810.5(a)(1)-(2) — timing, ordinary contents, language,
  and templates.

  At the time of hiring, an employer shall provide to each employee a
  written notice, in the language the employer normally uses to communicate
  employment-related information to the employee, containing the following
  information: (A) 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.

Official source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=2810.5.&lawCode=LAB (accessed 2026-07-22)
- Cal. Lab. Code § 2810.5(a)(3) — temporary-services additions.

If the employer is a temporary services employer, as defined in Section
201.3, the notice described in paragraph (1) shall also include the name,
the physical address of the main office, the mailing address if different
from the physical address of the main office, and the telephone number of
the legal entity for whom the employee will perform work, and any other
information the Labor Commissioner deems material and necessary.

Official source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=2810.5.&lawCode=LAB (accessed 2026-07-22)
- Cal. Lab. Code § 2810.5(a)(4)(B)(i), (d) — H-2A notice timing and the
required agency template.

An employer shall provide the notice required by subparagraph (A) in
Spanish to the H-2A employee on the day that the H-2A employee begins work
in the state or on the first day that the employee begins work for another
H-2A employer.

Official source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=2810.5.&lawCode=LAB (accessed 2026-07-22)
- Cal. Lab. Code § 2810.5(b) — changes.

An employer shall notify their employees in writing of any changes to the
information set forth in the notice within seven calendar days after the
time of the changes.

Official source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=2810.5.&lawCode=LAB (accessed 2026-07-22)
- Cal. Lab. Code § 2810.5(c) — employee exclusions.

An employee who is exempt from the payment of overtime wages by statute or
the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission.

Official source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=2810.5.&lawCode=LAB (accessed 2026-07-22)
- Cal. Lab. Code § 2804 — nonwaiver.

Any contract or agreement, express or implied, made by any employee to
waive the benefits of this article or any part thereof, is null and void.

Official source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=LAB&sectionNum=2804. (accessed 2026-07-22)
- California Labor Commissioner FAQ for Labor Code § 2810.5 — agency
guidance on a separate form, electronic delivery, optional acknowledgment,
multiple rates, and recordkeeping.

No, employers can develop their own notices so long as they contain all
the information required by the law, including all the information
requested on DLSE's template. The template includes all required
information, including that which the Labor Commissioner deems material and
necessary for purposes of the notice. Employers should keep a record of the
notices provided to their employees.

Official source: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQs-NoticetoEmployee.html (accessed 2026-07-22)
- California Labor Commissioner DLSE-NTE form for Labor Code § 2810.5 —
current state form and acknowledgment text.

The employee's signature on this notice merely constitutes
acknowledgement of receipt.

Official source: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/lc_2810.5_notice.pdf (accessed 2026-07-22)