How to Hire Employees in Florida: The Compliance Sequence for Small Businesses
Hiring employees in Florida in order: reemployment tax registration, I-9 and E-Verify, the 20-day new hire report, workers comp, posters, onboarding.
The first Florida employer I helped clean up had already paid a new hire for two full weeks. No I-9 on file. No reemployment tax account. No new hire report. His reasoning was reasonable and completely wrong: Florida has no state income tax, so he assumed there was nothing to file with the state at all. Low friction is not the same as no obligation.
Florida hiring runs on a sequence, and the order matters more than the individual items. This guide walks the sequence in the order the work actually happens, from the federal employer identification number (EIN) through the ninetieth day.
Several of the steps have to be finished before your new employee performs a single hour of work. Of the rest, one has a three business day clock that starts on the first day, and one has a twenty day clock. Do them out of order and you end up backfilling paperwork that an auditor will read as a pattern rather than an oversight.
I built FirstHR because a founder should not need a payroll background to keep a first hire compliant, and because the deadlines below are exactly the kind of thing that gets missed while you are busy running the business you just hired someone to help with.
- Sign the offer letter
- Sign the employee handbook
- Workplace Safety course
Florida Hiring at a Glance: The Deadlines in Sequence
Most Florida hiring obligations run on one of three clocks: before Day 1, within the first three business days, or within twenty days. The timeline below places each step on its clock, names the agency that enforces it, and states the exposure if you miss it.
| When | Task | Deadline | Exposure | Agency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before Day 1 | Get your federal EIN | Before the first payroll run | You cannot file employment tax returns or register with the state without it | IRS |
| Before Day 1 | Register for Florida reemployment tax | Report initial employment in the month following the quarter in which employment begins | Late filing penalties and interest on unpaid reemployment tax | Florida Department of Revenue |
| Before Day 1 | Secure workers compensation coverage if you cross the threshold | In force before the employee performs any work | Stop-work order plus 2 times the avoided premium or $1,000, whichever is greater | DFS Division of Workers' Compensation |
| Day 1 to Day 3 | Complete Form I-9 | Section 1 on or before Day 1, Section 2 by end of the 3rd business day | $288 to $2,861 per form under 8 CFR 274a.10 | USCIS / ICE |
| Day 1 to Day 3 | Run E-Verify if you employ 25 or more people | Within 3 business days after the first day of work | 30 days to cure, then $1,000 per day after 3 violations in 24 months | Florida Department of Commerce |
| Before 1st paycheck | Collect Form W-4 | Before the first wage payment | You must withhold at the single, no-adjustments rate | IRS |
| Within 20 days | File the Florida new hire report | 20 days from the date of hire | Mandatory under Florida Statutes section 409.2576; contractors paid $600 or more are included | Florida Department of Revenue |
| Day 1 | Post the required federal and Florida notices | Displayed before the employee starts work | Citation from the enforcing federal or state agency | DOL / Florida DOR / DFS |
| Day 1 to Day 90 | Onboard: paperwork, training, 30-60-90 plan, check-ins | Ongoing through the first 90 days | No fine, but early-tenure turnover is where hiring budgets disappear | Internal |
Two things stand out compared with most states. Florida collects its unemployment tax through the Department of Revenue rather than through a labor agency, and it attaches a mandatory E-Verify duty to a headcount threshold. Everything else will feel familiar if you have hired in another state.
The record below is that sequence as a form you fill in per hire, with the account numbers, dates, and storage locations an auditor will ask for. Start it when the offer goes out, not on the first day.
The rest of this guide walks each step in the order the form asks for it.
Step 1: Get Your Federal Employer Identification Number
Apply for the EIN first, because every later step asks for it. The EIN is the IRS identifier for your business as an employer, and you cannot register for Florida reemployment tax, file employment tax returns, or submit a new hire report without one. Apply through the IRS online EIN application. The IRS issues the number immediately online once the application is approved.
If you already received an EIN when you formed the LLC or corporation, reuse it. If you have been operating as a sole proprietor with no employees and filing under your Social Security number, you need an EIN now. Employment tax reporting cannot run on an SSN.
Step 2: Register for Reemployment Tax With the Department of Revenue
Florida employers register with the Florida Department of Revenue, not with a workforce agency. Registration happens through the Florida Business Tax Application, available online or as paper Form DR-1, and it produces your reemployment tax account number. That single application also covers other business taxes you may owe, so most owners complete it once and are done.
According to the Florida Department of Revenue, you become a liable employer under either of two general tests. The first is payroll based: at least one quarterly payroll totaling $1,500 or more in a calendar year. The second is duration based: one or more employees for a day, or any part of a day, during any 20 weeks in a calendar year. Different thresholds apply to agricultural employers, domestic employers and nonprofits.
On timing, the Department instructs a new employer to report its initial employment in the month following the calendar quarter in which employment begins. A business that starts paying wages in February reports after the first quarter closes. Registering earlier is never penalized, and it removes the risk of forgetting.
| Item | Florida rule | Why it matters on the first hire |
|---|---|---|
| Administering agency | Florida Department of Revenue | Registration, quarterly returns and new hire reports all run through one agency |
| Application | Florida Business Tax Application (Form DR-1), online or paper | One form covers reemployment tax and other business tax accounts |
| Liability test 1 | One quarterly payroll of $1,500 or more in a calendar year | Most first hires trigger this within a single quarter |
| Liability test 2 | One or more employees for any part of a day in 20 weeks of a calendar year | Part-time and seasonal staff count toward the week test |
| New employer rate | 2.70% of taxable wages | Applies until you have enough reporting history for an experience rate |
| Taxable wage base | First $7,000 of each employee's wages per calendar year | One of the lowest wage bases in the country |
| Experience-rated range | 0.10% to 5.40% | Your claims history moves the rate after the initial period |
The rates in that table are statutory rather than negotiated. Florida Statutes section 443.131 sets the initial rate at 2.7 percent for an employer whose record has been chargeable with benefits for fewer than eight calendar quarters, and it caps any assigned rate at 5.4 percent.
For hiring purposes, the only thing you need on Day 1 is the account number, because that is what your state unemployment tax filings will reference for the life of the business.
Step 3: Make the Workers Compensation Decision Before Anyone Starts
Florida ties workers compensation coverage to industry and headcount, and the construction line sits at a single employee. Under Florida Statutes section 440.02, covered employment includes all private employment with four or more employees, and, in the construction industry, all private employment with one or more employees.
Agricultural employers sit outside the requirement only if they have five or fewer regular employees and fewer than 12 seasonal workers at one time for labor completed in under 30 days, with that seasonal employment not exceeding 45 days in the calendar year.
Owners are not automatically outside the count. Section 440.02 treats an officer of a corporation who performs services for remuneration as an employee, and it treats a member owning at least 10 percent of an LLC as an officer. That surprises founders who assume only rank-and-file staff count. A three-person owner team plus one new hire can cross the line on the day that hire starts.
The enforcement mechanism is what makes this step urgent rather than administrative. Under Florida Statutes section 440.107, the Division of Workers' Compensation can serve a stop-work order requiring a business to cease all operations, and assess a penalty equal to two times the premium the employer avoided over the look-back period, or $1,000, whichever is greater. Continuing to operate in violation of a stop-work order adds $1,000 per day.
Step 4: Verify Work Authorization With Form I-9, Then Check the E-Verify Threshold
Every US employer completes Form I-9 for every new hire, and Florida layers a state E-Verify duty on top of it for larger employers. The federal form has two halves with two different deadlines, and the second one is the one people miss.
The civil penalty schedule at 8 CFR 274a.10 runs from $288 to $2,861 per form for verification failures, assessed per individual. That is why the practical fix is a calendar task rather than a policy: the employer who gets fined almost always knew the rule and simply ran past Day 3.
Florida E-Verify: the statutory threshold and the annual certification
Florida Statutes section 448.095 requires private employers with 25 or more employees to use E-Verify for new hires, a duty that took effect July 1, 2023. Employers below the threshold are not compelled to enroll.
Even below the threshold, section 448.095 still requires every employer to verify each new employee's eligibility within three business days after the first day the employee begins working for pay, which the federal I-9 documents. Every employer, covered or not, retains a copy of the documentation and any official verification generated for at least three years.
Two details catch growing businesses. First, the statute counts individuals filling a permanent position and expressly excludes independent contractors, so what you measure is your permanent payroll rather than everyone who sends you an invoice. Second, covered employers certify their E-Verify use on the first reemployment tax return filed in each calendar year, which links the immigration requirement to the same Department of Revenue account you set up in Step 2.
The 25-employee threshold survived an attempt to broaden it. House Bill 197, which would have extended the E-Verify duty to every private employer regardless of size, died in Senate Rules on March 13, 2026, so the line in section 448.095 is still the one that decides whether you enroll.
Step 5: Collect Form W-4, and Skip the State Version
Florida has no personal income tax, so the federal Form W-4 is the only withholding form your new hire completes. There is no Florida W-4, no state withholding account, and no state withholding line on the pay stub. This is the single biggest reason Florida payroll setup is faster than California or New York.
Collect the W-4 before the first wage payment. If an employee has not submitted one by then, federal rules require you to withhold as single with no adjustments, which usually over-withholds and generates an awkward conversation on the first payday. Sending the W-4 with the offer letter for e-signature removes the problem entirely.
You still withhold federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, and you still pay the employer share plus federal unemployment tax. The distinction between the taxes you withhold and the taxes you owe is worth understanding early.
Step 6: File the New Hire Report Within 20 Days
Florida gives you 20 days from the date of hire to report the new employee, and the report goes to the Department of Revenue. Florida Statutes section 409.2576 creates the State Directory of New Hires and assigns it to the Department of Revenue, which means the same agency handles your reemployment tax account and your new hire filings.
The statute defines date of hire as the first day of work for which the employee is owed income, so the clock starts on the first working day, not on the offer acceptance. Employers that report electronically may substitute two monthly transmissions spaced not less than 12 and not more than 16 days apart.
| Reporting element | Source | Common error |
|---|---|---|
| Employee name | Form W-4 or I-9 | Nicknames instead of the legal name on the Social Security card |
| Employee address | Onboarding form | Old address carried over from the application |
| Social Security number | Form W-4 | Transposed digits that fail the match and force a resubmission |
| Date of hire | First day worked for which income is owed | Using the offer acceptance date and starting the 20-day clock early |
| Employer name and address | Business registration | Trade name instead of the registered legal entity name |
| Federal employer identification number | IRS EIN letter | Using a personal SSN on a sole proprietorship filing |
Independent contractors are not exempt. A service recipient must report non-employees paid $600 or more, including the name, address and identifying number, along with the date services began. Founders who assume the contractor route avoids state paperwork are usually surprised by this one.
Step 7: Post the Required Federal and Florida Notices
Post everything before the employee starts, in a location all employees can see. Florida requires a specific set of state notices in addition to the federal poster set that the US Department of Labor publishes, and every agency-issued notice among them is a free download. Paying a vendor for a laminated composite is optional convenience, not compliance.
| Notice | Issuing agency | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Federal minimum wage (FLSA) | US Department of Labor | All employers |
| OSHA job safety and health | OSHA | All employers |
| Equal employment opportunity | EEOC | Employers meeting the federal coverage threshold |
| Employee Polygraph Protection Act | US Department of Labor | All employers |
| USERRA | US Department of Labor | All employers |
| Family and Medical Leave Act | US Department of Labor | Employers meeting the FMLA coverage threshold |
| Florida minimum wage notice | Florida Department of Commerce | All Florida employers |
| Reemployment Assistance Program Law (RT-83) | Florida Department of Revenue | All Florida employers |
| Workers' compensation notice of coverage | DFS Division of Workers' Compensation | Every employer that has secured coverage, under Florida Statutes section 440.40 |
| Notice that employees are not covered | Written by the employer, posted at each worksite | Employers under the four-employee line that elect not to secure coverage, under Florida Statutes section 440.055 |
| Child labor law notice | Florida DBPR | Employers of minors |
The Florida minimum wage notice is the one that goes stale. The final constitutional step set the rate at $15.00, effective September 30, 2026. From September 30, 2027, the Department of Commerce calculates an inflation adjustment each September 30 that takes effect the following January 1.
Florida Statutes section 448.110 has the state post each new rate by October 15. Every new rate retires the poster on your break room wall, so tie the swap to the same reminder that updates your pay rates.
Nick Anisimov, FirstHR founderStep 8: Onboard From Day One Through Day Ninety
Compliance gets the employee legally on payroll; onboarding decides whether the hire works out. Gallup research has found that only a small minority of employees strongly agree their organization does a great job onboarding new employees, and the gap between a compliant first day and a good one is almost entirely structure. Finish as much of Steps 1 through 7 as you can before Day 1, so the first day is about the work and the later deadlines are routine follow-ups.
This is the part of the sequence FirstHR was built for. The offer letter goes out with e-signature, the three business day and twenty day deadlines become tasks rather than memory, and the AI onboarding wizard turns a job description into a 30-60-90 day plan your manager can actually run.
Form I-9 and W-4 go on the new hire's first-day list as tasks, and completed forms are kept in their employee file; the forms themselves are completed outside the platform. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider, so it sits alongside whatever runs your paychecks.
Florida Rules That Change How You Hire and Manage
Florida is a light-touch employment state at the statute level, which shifts weight onto your own documents. Where other states supply a default rule, Florida often supplies nothing, and your offer letter and handbook fill the space.
The wage floor deserves its own paragraph because it moves on a schedule. Florida's minimum wage is $15.00 per hour, effective September 30, 2026, with a required cash wage of $11.98 for tipped employees after the $3.02 tip credit. That step was the last one the constitutional amendment set out.
Indexing takes over from there. Article X, section 24 of the Florida Constitution has the state calculate an inflation adjustment each September 30 starting in 2027, with each adjusted rate taking effect the following January 1. The first indexed rate therefore arrives on January 1, 2028, and from then on the figure in your offer letters moves on an arithmetic cycle rather than by a vote.
Underpayment is not a quiet risk. An employee who prevails recovers the unpaid wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, together with attorney fees and costs, and the Attorney General can seek $1,000 per willful violation payable to the state.
| Topic | Florida rule | Practical effect on hiring |
|---|---|---|
| State income tax | None | No state W-4, no state withholding account |
| State unemployment program | Reemployment tax, administered by the Department of Revenue | One agency for registration, returns and new hire reports |
| Minimum wage | $15.00 per hour, effective September 30, 2026, then indexed for inflation | Offer letters written near the floor need a scheduled review |
| Local wage or benefit mandates | Preempted for private employers | One statewide standard instead of city-by-city rules |
| Pay frequency | No state statute for private employers | Your written pay schedule is the governing document |
| Final paycheck | No state deadline statute | Set your own rule, such as the next regular payday, and put it in the handbook |
| Paid sick leave | No state mandate | Any PTO you offer is a policy commitment, so draft it carefully |
| Meal and rest breaks (adults) | No state requirement | Federal rules on paid short breaks still apply |
| Meal break (minors) | 30 minutes after 4 continuous hours: always for minors 15 and under, and for 16 and 17 year olds on days of 8 hours or more | Scheduling software needs the rule built in |
| State discrimination law | Florida Civil Rights Act covers employers at 15 or more employees | Federal thresholds still apply below that |
| Domestic violence leave | Up to 3 working days in a 12-month period at 50 or more employees | Paid or unpaid at the employer's discretion |
Hiring minors in Florida
Florida runs its own child labor rules on top of the federal ones, which matters for restaurants, retail and seasonal tourism operations. Under Florida Statutes section 450.081, minors aged 16 and 17 may not work before 6:30 a.m. or after 11:00 p.m. when school is scheduled the next day, and may not work more than eight hours on such a day unless it falls on a holiday or a Sunday.
When school is in session, the weekly cap for these minors is 30 hours, though a parent or custodian, or the school superintendent or a designee, can waive that cap on a form prescribed by the state and given to the employer.
The break rule is the one that gets missed on a busy shift. A 16 or 17 year old scheduled for eight hours or more in a day cannot work more than four continuous hours without a 30-minute meal break, and for minors 15 and under that four-hour limit applies to every shift. Build it into the schedule rather than the manager's memory.
Restrictive covenants after the CHOICE Act
Florida already enforced reasonable non-competes, and the CHOICE Act at Florida Statutes sections 542.41 to 542.45, enacted by chapter 2025-213, went further for higher-earning roles. It permits garden leave and non-compete arrangements running up to four years for covered employees, meaning those who earn more than twice the annual mean wage of the county where the employer has its principal place of business.
The Act also sets conditions: the employee must be advised in writing of the right to seek counsel and given at least seven days to consider the agreement, and health care practitioners as defined in section 456.001 are excluded.
For a first hire this rarely applies, but it changes how you write senior offer letters. If you plan to use a restrictive covenant, have counsel confirm which framework the role falls under before the candidate signs.
County and City Requirements: What Survives Preemption
Florida preempts local minimum wage and benefit mandates for private employers, so the city-by-city patchwork found in California or Washington does not exist here. Florida Statutes section 218.077 bars a political subdivision from requiring an employer to provide employment benefits that state or federal law does not require, and it names holidays, sick leave, vacation, and personal necessity time as examples.
Two routes survive that preemption. The first is a county ordinance that gives an employee an administrative route to recover wages already earned, such as the Miami-Dade County Wage Theft Program, which enforces pay already owed rather than setting a wage.
The second route is a wage or benefit condition that a county or city attaches to a direct tax abatement or subsidy it grants an employer, which section 218.077 expressly allows.
Wage terms in county and city service contracts no longer qualify. Since September 30, 2026, section 218.077 bars a political subdivision from using its purchasing or contracting procedures to control the wages or benefits of its vendors, although contracts entered into before that date keep their terms.
| Jurisdiction | Requirement | Who it reaches | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami-Dade County | Wage theft ordinance: unpaid or underpaid wages pursued through a county administrative process rather than a court | Any private employer whose employees perform work inside the county, regardless of where the business is located | Pay on schedule and keep the records that prove it; a finding carries three times the back wages plus an assessment of county administrative processing and hearing costs |
| Miami-Dade County | Claim window and dollar limits | Unpaid wages between $60 and $15,000, with the complaint filed no later than one year after the last date the employee performed the work | Resolve pay disputes quickly rather than letting them age into a filing |
| Other Florida counties | A county wage recovery ordinance, where one exists, runs on that county's own filing terms | Employers whose employees perform work in those counties | Treat every county where you have staff as its own check rather than assuming Miami-Dade is the only one |
| County service contracts | Since September 30, 2026, section 218.077 bars wage or benefit conditions imposed through county purchasing or contracting; contracts entered into before that date keep their terms | Businesses holding county work under a contract signed before September 30, 2026 | Read the wage terms in that contract; they bind you by agreement, not by employment law |
| All Florida cities | No local private-sector minimum wage or paid leave mandate | All private employers | Follow the state minimum wage and your own PTO policy |
The practical takeaway is that a Florida employer follows state and federal law almost everywhere. Two things are worth checking: whether the county your staff work in runs a wage recovery process, and whether a local tax abatement or subsidy you accepted, or a county or municipal contract signed before September 30, 2026, carries its own wage conditions.
Employee or Independent Contractor: The Florida Cost of Guessing
Misclassification is the most expensive avoidable mistake in this entire sequence, because it does not fail in one place. It fails in reemployment tax, in workers compensation, and in wage and hour law at the same time.
Florida applies common-law control principles, and the Department of Revenue can reclassify a worker and assess back reemployment tax with penalties and interest. The compounding risk is the coverage threshold: a worker you called a contractor who should have been counted as an employee can move you across the four-employee line, which turns a classification dispute into a stop-work order exposure.
| Factor | Employee (W-2) | Contractor (1099) |
|---|---|---|
| Who sets the schedule | You do | The worker does |
| Who supplies tools and equipment | You do | The worker does |
| Can the worker realize a profit or loss | No, wages are fixed | Yes, the worker bears financial risk |
| Duration of the relationship | Indefinite and continuous | Project-based with a defined end |
| Can the worker serve other clients | Restricted or not at all | Freely, and usually does |
| Who decides the method of work | You dictate the process | The worker chooses the method |
| Counted toward the workers comp threshold | Yes | Not if the classification holds up |
| Reported to the state directory of new hires | Yes, within 20 days | Yes, if paid $600 or more |
When control over how the work gets done sits with you, the answer is W-2. The cost of employing someone properly is always smaller than the cost of a reclassification finding that reaches back across quarters.
The Five Mistakes That Cost Florida Employers the Most
These are the failures I see most often, and every one of them is a timing or counting error rather than a knowledge gap. The employer knew the rule. The rule just did not have an owner and a date attached to it.
Notice the pattern: three of the five are triggered by growth rather than by ignorance. The workers compensation line, the E-Verify threshold and the minimum wage rate all move underneath a business that is doing nothing differently. That is exactly the kind of drift a quarterly review catches and a busy quarter does not.
So here is the review. Four numbers, and what each one triggers when it moves. Run it on the day you file the quarterly reemployment tax return, because that is a date you already keep.
Nick Anisimov, FirstHR founder
Frequently Asked Questions
Which agency do I register with before hiring my first employee in Florida?
The Florida Department of Revenue. In Florida, state unemployment insurance is called reemployment tax, and the Department of Revenue runs it instead of a labor agency. You register through the Florida Business Tax Application, filed online or on paper Form DR-1, and the Department issues your reemployment tax account number. Two tests make you a liable employer: payroll of $1,500 or more in at least one quarter of a calendar year, or one or more employees for any part of a day in each of 20 different weeks of a calendar year. For timing, the Department tells a new employer to report initial employment in the month after the quarter in which employment begins.
What is the new hire reporting deadline in Florida?
Twenty days from the date of hire. Under Florida Statutes section 409.2576, every employer must report each new or rehired employee to the State Directory of New Hires, which the Department of Revenue runs. You need the employee's name, address, date of hire and Social Security number, along with your own business name, address and federal employer identification number. The clock starts on the first day of work that earns the employee income, not on the day an offer is accepted. An employer that reports electronically may send two monthly transmissions spaced 12 to 16 days apart instead. A business that pays an independent contractor $600 or more must report that person too.
What is the Florida minimum wage and does it change automatically?
Yes, it changes automatically. The Florida minimum wage is $15.00 per hour, effective September 30, 2026, and a tipped employee must receive a cash wage of at least $11.98 once the $3.02 tip credit is applied. Florida voters wrote a schedule of September 30 increases into the state constitution, and the $15.00 step was the last one on it. Starting September 30, 2027, the rate is recalculated every September 30 using the CPI-W, a federal consumer price index, and the result applies from the following January 1. That puts the first indexed rate at January 1, 2028, with no legislative vote needed. An employer who underpays owes the back wages plus the same amount again as liquidated damages, along with attorney fees and costs, and the Attorney General may separately seek $1,000 for each willful violation.
Is workers compensation insurance required in Florida?
It depends on your industry and headcount. Florida Statutes section 440.02 requires a construction employer to carry coverage from its first employee, and a non-construction private employer to carry it once it reaches four. The count includes a corporate officer who performs services for pay and any LLC member who owns at least 10 percent. An agricultural employer is outside the requirement only with five or fewer regular employees, together with under 12 seasonal workers on the job at once doing labor that finishes in under 30 days, and only if that seasonal employment totals no more than 45 days in the calendar year. Under those lines coverage is optional, and many employers buy a policy anyway. A contractor must also confirm that each subcontractor carries coverage.
Does Florida require E-Verify for private employers?
Yes, above a statutory threshold. Under Florida Statutes section 448.095, a private employer with 25 or more employees must run each new hire through E-Verify, a duty in effect since July 1, 2023. Smaller employers are not required to enroll. Every employer, however, must confirm each new employee's work eligibility within three business days after the employee's first day working for pay, and the federal Form I-9 is the record of that check. Employers of every size keep the documentation and any official verification result for at least three years. Covered employers also certify E-Verify participation with the first reemployment tax return they file each calendar year. Enforcement is graduated: the first two failures within 24 months bring a 30-day period to cure, and a third brings a $1,000 fine for every day until the employer proves compliance.
How often do I have to pay employees in Florida?
Florida sets no statutory pay frequency for private-sector employers and no deadline for a final paycheck, so the schedule you write down is the one that governs. Put it in the offer letter and the handbook, then follow it exactly. In practice that means choosing a regular pay rhythm, such as biweekly or semimonthly, and deciding when final wages are due, for example on the next regularly scheduled payday. Vacation and paid time off work the same way: Florida has no state law requiring a payout at separation unless your own policy, contract or collective bargaining agreement promises one. Whatever you choose, apply it the same way to every employee in the same situation.
What posters do Florida employers have to display?
Both federal and Florida notices. On the federal side you need the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) minimum wage poster, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) job safety poster, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act notice and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) notice. Add the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) notice once you have 15 employees and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) poster once you have 50, the points at which those laws first cover a private employer. Florida adds the state minimum wage notice that the Department of Commerce publishes each year, the Reemployment Assistance Program Law notice from the Department of Revenue (Form RT-83), the workers compensation notice of coverage that Florida Statutes section 440.40 requires of every employer that has secured coverage, and the child labor law poster that the Department of Business and Professional Regulation provides if you employ minors. An employer under the four-employee line that elects not to secure coverage must instead post notice at each worksite that workers are not entitled to benefits, under section 440.055. Every agency notice on that list is a free download from the issuing agency.
Can I classify my first Florida hire as an independent contractor instead?
Only if the relationship genuinely qualifies, and most first hires do not. Florida tests for common-law control: who sets the schedule, supplies the tools and decides how the work gets done. The Department of Revenue may treat the worker as an employee and bill the back reemployment tax, plus penalties and interest. Misclassification also compounds. A worker who should have counted toward the workers compensation threshold can turn a routine inspection into a stop-work order. New hire reporting still applies, because Florida requires a report for contractors paid $600 or more. If you control how the work gets done, classify the worker as a W-2 employee.
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