Utah New-Hire Onboarding Checklist

Complete the federal Form I-9 (edition 01/20/2025) for every new hire, and if you have 150+ employees, run new hires through E-Verify under the Private Employer Verification Act (see our Utah E-Verify guide). Public employers must register with and use a status verification system regardless of headcount (Utah Code § 63G-12-302(2)(a)).

Utah's Employment Selection Procedures Act — which applies only to employers with 15 or more employees (Utah Code § 34-46-102) — restricts requesting an applicant's Social Security number, date of birth, or driver-license number before a job offer (Utah Code § 34-46-201), and the Internet Employment Privacy Act bars demanding usernames or passwords for personal Internet accounts — accounts used exclusively for personal communications, personal email included, not only social media (§ 34-48-201). Collect that information after the offer.

Report the new hire to the state, collect the federal W-4 and Utah withholding election, and post the Utah Labor Commission / UALD notices, the UOSH job-safety poster, and workers'-comp notices — plus the federal posters (FLSA, EEOC, FMLA at 50+ (public agencies/schools any size), OSHA, USERRA, EPPA). Utah Code § 34-28-4(1) additionally requires notifying each employee at the time of hiring of the day and place of payment and the rate of pay — or posting those facts conspicuously at or near the place of work, which discharges the duty — and failure to give the notice or keep the posting is a class B misdemeanor (§ 34-28-4(2)). The duty does not reach government or household-domestic employers, farm, dairy, agricultural, viticultural, horticultural or stock-or-poultry employers, or employment where an agreement provides for different payment terms (§ 34-28-1).

A Utah handbook should carry a clear at-will disclaimer, an anti-harassment/anti-retaliation policy, a pregnancy-accommodation policy, and (if you use restrictive covenants) agreements that respect the one-year non-compete cap. Keep signed acknowledgments.

Hold SSN/DOB/driver-license requests until after the offer, complete I-9s (and E-Verify if covered), preserve at-will language, and verify your poster set against the Utah Labor Commission each year.