Texas new hire paperwork: TWC’s required list, the workers’ comp notice and the OAG report

Texas has no state withholding certificate on the Texas Workforce Commission’s list of required hiring forms (Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Business Today: New Hire Paperwork). What Texas does add is a notice about workers’ compensation. Under the Texas Administrative Code, every employer tells each new hire in writing whether it carries workers’ compensation insurance or not (28 Tex. Admin. Code § 110.101, Notices of coverage).

The Commission splits the packet into two parts: required, and “optional, but recommended” (Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Business Today: New Hire Paperwork). The recommended part is where Texas employers protect themselves, for example with a written pay agreement or a signed consent to drug testing. Those papers matter later, in a wage claim or a dispute over a deduction.

A non-subscriber is a Texas employer that chooses not to carry workers’ compensation insurance; it still gives the notice, saying that it has no coverage (28 Tex. Admin. Code § 110.101, Notices of coverage).

The employer puts the packet together, ideally with an office manager or HR staff member meeting the new hire before any work begins, as TWC suggests (Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Business Today: New Hire Paperwork). The IRS and USCIS publish the federal forms, the Texas Department of Insurance’s workers’ compensation division publishes the coverage notices, and the Attorney General’s Child Support Division receives the new hire report.

1. Open the TWC new hire paperwork page and download the forms it links for each required item.
2. Pick the workers’ compensation notice that matches your status: coverage, or non-coverage.
3. Add the recommended consents and agreements that fit your practices.
4. Report the hire on the Attorney General’s employer website.

• Leaving out the workers’ compensation notice because the company is a non-subscriber; the notice is still owed (28 Tex. Admin. Code § 110.101, Notices of coverage).
• Ordering a background check through an outside company before the applicant has signed the disclosure and consent.
• Making a deduction from pay with no signed wage deduction agreement in the file.
• Using the Social Security number as the employee ID on badges and internal reports.

These are the items TWC labels required (Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Business Today: New Hire Paperwork). The table adds who acts and what the form does.

A coverage notice is the written statement telling the employee whether the employer carries workers’ compensation insurance. The rule ties the notice to hiring in a precise way. It is given when the employee must complete both a Form W-4 and a Form I-9, or on the first day back after a break in service that requires a new Form W-4 (28 Tex. Admin. Code § 110.101, Notices of coverage).

Employers also post a workplace notice about coverage. The rule sets the type sizes and requires English, Spanish and any other language common to the workforce (28 Tex. Admin. Code § 110.101, Notices of coverage). The text must be the division’s sample text, with no added words (28 Tex. Admin. Code § 110.101, Notices of coverage).

A pay agreement is a signed note of the pay rate, deductions and schedule the employee accepted at hire. None of these is required by statute, but TWC recommends them because they settle questions before they turn into claims (Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Business Today: New Hire Paperwork).

• Acknowledgment of receipt of the policy handbook.
• Consent to drug testing or searches, if the company does either.
• Consent to video surveillance, if the company uses it.
• Written agreements on pay, wage deductions, benefits, schedule and work location, with an at-will disclaimer.
• Documents for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, if the hire may belong to a targeted group.

Texas employers report new hires and rehires within 20 calendar days from the date the employee starts earning wages (Office of the Texas Attorney General, New Hire Reporting). The Attorney General’s rule of thumb is simple: if the employee must fill out a Form W-4, report them (Office of the Texas Attorney General, New Hire Reporting).

1. Report online through the Attorney General’s employer website.
2. If you are reporting for the first time, include everyone hired in the last 90 days (Office of the Texas Attorney General, New Hire Reporting).
3. Use the same FEIN for new hire reports and quarterly wage reports, to avoid duplicate withholding orders.
4. If you employ people in several states, the Attorney General asks you to choose Texas as your reporting state.

TWC adds a short list of steps for the first days (Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Business Today: New Hire Paperwork). Enter the employee in payroll with an ID other than the Social Security number. Enroll them in the benefits they choose, and issue access cards, equipment and uniforms.

For company property such as a laptop, TWC suggests a property return agreement. Remember too that orientation time counts as time worked, so it is paid (Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Business Today: New Hire Paperwork). For the federal background on Form I-9, see the I-9 documents guide.

• Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Business Today: New Hire Paperwork: Required: W-4, I-9, Marketplace notice, workers’ compensation notice, background check consent; recommended: handbook, consents, pay agreements, WOTC documents; follow-up steps.
• Office of the Texas Attorney General, New Hire Reporting: New hires and rehires are reported within 20 calendar days from the date wages start; first-time reporters include hires from the last 90 days.
• 28 Tex. Admin. Code § 110.101, Notices of coverage: Employers notify each new employee in writing of workers’ compensation coverage status at hiring and post notices in English, Spanish and other common languages.
• U.S. Department of Labor, Notice of Coverage Options: Employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act provide the Marketplace coverage notice.