Payroll Deadlines

Hiring and OnboardingPayroll
Written By Megan Kurashige

You deal with deadlines every day. Scheduling is probably one of the most chaotic and frustrating things about your job. With all the wrangling you do in production, it’s easy to feel like the paperwork for onboarding and paying new personnel is unimportant. You don’t have time to think about it, and it seems like it has nothing to do with your actual work. However, getting your employees onboarded and paid on time is extremely important for moral, practical, and legal reasons. Doing these things in a timely manner makes your employees feel welcome and keeps their morale up. Additionally, there are fines and penalties associated with failing to complete, or incorrectly completing, almost every aspect of payroll and onboarding. While you might save some time by playing loose with deadlines now, you will lose time and money in the long run.

OOTB is here to help you figure out how to get your employees paid in a timely and lawful manner. We’re going to answer some of your most common questions about payroll deadlines, as well as detailing the penalties that you or your employees might incur if you fail to comply with applicable laws. We will answer the following questions:

  1. What onboarding forms do my new employees need to fill out? 

  2. What is a W-4, and when does it need to be filled out?

  3. What is an I-9, and when does it need to be filled out?

  4. When do I need to provide a pay rate notice to my employees?

  5. When do employees need to be paid in California?

  6. How soon is a terminated employee required to receive their wages?

But first, some quick housekeeping:

 Ask OOTB! is an ongoing series in which we share some of the most commonly asked questions that we receive, along with relevant information that can help you better understand all things payroll. If you have a question that you would like us to tackle, please submit it to us here.

And an important note: The information provided in this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. All information, content, and materials available in this article are for general informational purposes only. Information in this article may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information. We highly recommend that you seek the advice of an attorney or tax professional rather than relying solely on the information provided herein.

What onboarding forms do my new employees need to fill out? 

Which forms you need to have filled out may depend on the employee’s particular job, but two of the most common ones are a W-4 and an I-9. You may also want to consider including the following documents: (from indeed.com)

  • Employee application

  • Copy of background check

  • Offer letter

  • Equal opportunity data form

  • Employee contract

  • Nondisclosure agreement

  • Noncompete agreement

  • Direct deposit form

  • Any necessary release forms 

Ok, what is a W-4, and when does it need to be filled out?

A W-4 is a form, filled out by your employee, that lets you know their filing status and what amount you should withhold from their paycheck for tax purposes. You should have your employee fill out a W-4 before their first paycheck is due to avoid withholding the wrong amount, which can result in penalties for your employee. According to the IRS website page on the W-4, if your employee does not have a W-4 filled out in time, you must pay them as if they were single with no other adjustments. If your employee submits a W-4 that results in less tax being withheld than is required, they can incur a penalty of $500.

And what is an I-9, and when does it need to be filled out?

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Page on this topic, Form I-9 is a form that employers and employees must fill out when the employee is onboarded. It is used to verify the identity of your employee, as well as their eligibility to work in the United States. An employee is required to bring one or more forms of identification, specified on the form, and an employer is required to determine whether or not these forms of ID are valid.

Form I-9 must be completed within 3 business days of the employee’s first day of paid work. If the job lasts fewer than 3 days, the form must be completed by the first day of paid work.

According to an SHRM article titled Form I-9 Fines Raised for 2020, the fines for failing to get an I-9 form filled out on time or employing an unauthorized employee are significant. The new fines apply to all employers who onboarded new staff after November 2, 2015. These fines are:

  • $234 to $2,332 per employee for failure to fill out an I-9 on time

  • $583 to $4,667 per employee for knowingly employing unauthorized workers

When do I need to provide a pay rate notice to my employees?

According to the DIR’s page on the Wage Theft Protection Act of 2011, “Section 2810.5 of the Labor Code requires that employers provide notice to employees of their rate(s) of pay, designated payday, the employer’s intent to claim allowances (meal or lodging allowances) as part of the minimum wage, and the basis of wage payment (whether paying by hour, shift, day, week, piece, etc.), including any applicable rates for overtime.” This must be done “at the time of hiring and within 7 days of a change if the change is not listed on the employee’s pay stub for the following pay period.”

When do employees need to be paid in California?

According to the DIR’s Paydays, Pay Periods, and the Final Wages, in most general professions, non-exempt employees are required to be paid at least twice per month. If an employer chooses this twice per month plan, whatever an employee earns between the 1st and 15th days of the month must be paid out by the 26th day, and whatever an employee earns between the 16th and the last day of the month must be paid by the 10th day of the following month. Employers are allowed to choose a different pay schedule so long as it is at least twice per month and their employees are paid within seven days of the last day of their earning period. No matter what the pay schedule, employers are required to post a notice that states the day, time, and place that their employees will be paid. 

Failure to adhere to these payroll deadlines, according to the California Legislative Information website, is considered a misdemeanor, and can result in legal action. If your employee is unsatisfied with the regularity with which you are paying them, they can contact the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, who will then call you and explain the rules to you. If you still fail to pay your employees on a schedule that adheres to California’s requirements, you are guilty of a misdemeanor and are vulnerable to legal action.

 You also, according to the California Legislative Information page on Assembly Bill 673, may be issued penalties for failure to comply with payroll deadlines. These penalties are:

  • $100 per deadline missed for initial violations

  • $200 per deadline missed for intentional or repeated violations, in addition to 25% of the owed wages

How soon is a terminated employee required to receive their wages?

This depends on whether your employee is discharged (fired) or laid off (terminated due to circumstances beyond the employee’s control). It also depends on whether you are working in still photography, the motion picture industry, or a live theater or concert venue.

According to the aforementioned page on the DIR website, a discharged employee “...must be paid all of his or her wages, including accrued vacation, immediately at the time of termination.” 

However, if you are in the motion picture industry, the rules are different. According to the DIR’s online copy of Labor Code Section 201.5, when an employee in the motion picture industry is terminated for any reason (discharged, laid off, resigned, work ends, etc.), they need to be paid by their next regular payday. Next regular payday depends on how you define your pay schedule. Read the question above for more on that!

If you are in the still photography industry, the rules around termination payment were updated in 2019 with the passage of Senate Bill 671. According to the California Legislative Information website, the termination payment deadlines for still photography are now just like those for the motion picture industry. Terminated employees in the still photography industry must be paid by the next scheduled payday.

Lastly, if you regularly employ people for short periods of time at a live theater or concert venue, and you have a valid collective bargaining agreement with your employees, the DIR page mentioned above states that you and your employees can come to your own agreement about when you pay a terminated employee. 

According to the same DIR page, if you willfully fail to pay your terminated employee’s owed wages at the lawful time, you can be charged a “waiting time penalty.” This is a fine, equal to your terminated employee’s normal daily rate, for every day that your former employee remains unpaid. This amount is capped at thirty days worth of pay, but it’s still a hefty amount of money, so it’s worth paying attention to.

We hope we’ve given you a clear picture of the important payroll deadlines. To recap, there are several documents your new hires need to fill out, including a W-4 and an I-9. A W-4, if filled out incorrectly, can result in penalties for your employee. An I-9, if incorrectly filled out, can result in penalties for the employer. Your employees need to be paid at least twice per month in California, with some exceptions, and missing a payday can result in fines that accrue with every payday that is missed. Your terminated employees, in most cases relating to commercial photography, must be paid by the next payday after termination, regardless of the reason for termination. Missing this deadline can result in fines that accrue every day that the payment is missed, up to a maximum of 30 days worth of pay. We’ve covered a lot today, but in the end, we hope the clarification of the payroll related timeframes has made them a little bit less scary. You already know how to stick to deadlines and manage many different tasks at the same time. You can do this, and OOTB is here to help.

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Megan Kurashige
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