Hiring your first employee in Utah requires eight legal steps: get a federal EIN, register for Utah withholding and unemployment insurance accounts, buy workers’ compensation insurance, verify work authorization on Form I-9, collect a federal W-4, report the hire to the Utah New Hire Registry within 20 days, post the required workplace notices, and set a payday no less often than semimonthly.
Last updated: August 2026
Key Takeaways
- Workers’ compensation coverage attaches at your very first employee in Utah, not at some later headcount. Utah Code 34A-2-103 defines an employer as anyone who regularly employs one or more workers.
- Going without coverage costs more than the premium. The Utah Labor Commission imposes penalties of at least $1,000, can enjoin your operations, and you lose the exclusive remedy defense that normally keeps injury claims out of court.
- Utah has no state W-4. You calculate state withholding from the employee’s federal Form W-4 using the tables in Utah Publication 14.
- You must report the new hire to the Utah New Hire Registry within 20 days of the first day worked.
- Utah law bars you from asking an applicant for a Social Security number, date of birth, or driver license number before you make a job offer, with narrow exceptions.
- Most Utah and federal antidiscrimination statutes do not reach a one-employee business, but the wage, workers’ compensation, immigration, and safety rules do apply from day one.
What Are The Legal Steps For Hiring Your First Employee In Utah?
The legal steps for hiring your first employee in Utah fall into three buckets: accounts you open before payroll runs, insurance you buy before the employee starts work, and paperwork you complete during the first week. Work them in this order.
- Get a federal Employer Identification Number (EIN). A sole proprietor who has been using a Social Security number for taxes needs an EIN once there is payroll. Apply directly with the IRS; it is free and issued immediately online.
- Open a Utah withholding tax account. Register through Utah’s OneStop Business Registration or file form TC-69 with the Tax Commission. See the Utah State Tax Commission withholding page for the account setup and the TC-941E filing schedule.
- Open a Utah unemployment insurance account. Register with the Department of Workforce Services. Utah treats you as a subject employer as soon as you employ one or more individuals for any portion of a day during a calendar year.
- Buy workers’ compensation insurance. Bind the policy before the employee’s first shift, not after.
- Complete Form I-9. The employee fills out Section 1 no later than the first day of work, and you complete Section 2 after examining their documents. Use the current form from USCIS.
- Collect a federal Form W-4. Utah does not issue its own withholding certificate, so the federal form drives both federal and Utah withholding.
- Report the hire to the Utah New Hire Registry. Within 20 days of the first day worked, submit the employee’s name, address, Social Security number, and date of hire along with your business name, address, and FEIN.
- Post the required notices and set your payday. Put up the state and federal workplace posters, then designate a regular payday in advance.
Steps one through four are the ones that create real exposure if you skip them. Steps five through eight are the ones people forget, and they are also the cheapest to fix if you catch them in the first month.
Do You Need Workers’ Compensation Insurance For One Employee In Utah?
Yes. In Utah, workers’ compensation is required from the first employee. Utah Code 34A-2-103 makes each person who “regularly employs one or more workers or operatives in the same business” an employer under the Workers’ Compensation Act, and Utah Code 34A-2-201 then requires that employer to secure benefits by buying a policy or qualifying as a self-insured employer.
Part-time does not change the answer. Neither does calling the person a helper, an apprentice, or family, unless a specific statutory exemption fits. The narrow exemptions in Utah Code 34A-2-103 cover domestic employers who do not employ someone at least 40 hours per week, certain agricultural employers under payroll thresholds, and Utah corporations with no employees other than up to five directors or officers who file an exclusion form.
If an employer fails to maintain workers’ compensation coverage in Utah, the consequences include penalties of at least $1,000, injunctions prohibiting continued business operations, and loss of the protection of the exclusive remedy.
That last consequence is the one owners underestimate. Under Utah Code 34A-2-207, an uninsured employer sued by an injured worker cannot raise the fellow-servant rule, assumption of risk, or contributory negligence. Proof of the injury is prima facie evidence of the employer’s negligence, and the employee recovers attorney fees and costs on top of damages. You are not just paying a claim. You are defending a negligence case with your three best defenses stripped away.
Which Government Accounts Do You Have To Open Before The First Paycheck?
Four registrations cover almost every Utah first hire. Open them before payroll runs, because two of them generate account numbers your payroll software will demand.
| Registration | Agency | What it is for | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employer Identification Number | Internal Revenue Service | Federal payroll tax deposits, W-2s, Form 941 | Before you run payroll |
| Utah withholding account (TC-69) | Utah State Tax Commission | State income tax withheld from wages, filed on TC-941E | Before the first paycheck |
| Unemployment insurance account | Utah Dept. of Workforce Services | Quarterly UI contributions on subject wages | As soon as you have an employee |
| Workers’ compensation policy | Private carrier or approved self-insurance | Medical and wage benefits for job injuries | Before the first shift |
On the unemployment side, expect an industry-based rate at first. Utah assigns new employers a contribution rate based on the average rates of all employers in their industry, then replaces it with an experience-based earned rate on January 1 following your first full fiscal year of reporting. You pay the entire contribution yourself. Deducting any part of it from the employee’s wages is a violation of the Employment Security Act.
Keep payroll records for four calendar years. Workforce Services expects each employee’s name and Social Security number, hire date, work location, separation date and reason, pay period dates, pay dates, wages broken out from tips and bonuses, time records, and the cash value of any non-cash compensation.
What Can You Legally Ask A Job Applicant In Utah?
This is the step most first-time Utah employers get wrong, because generic hiring checklists are written for the whole country. Utah has its own rule. Under Utah Code 34-46-201, part of the Employment Selection Procedures Act, an employer may not request an applicant’s Social Security number, date of birth, or driver license number before the applicant is offered a job.
The exceptions are specific. You may request that information pre-offer only when the request applies to every applicant for the position, the applicant consents, and you are collecting it at the point in your process where you actually run a criminal background check, pull a credit history under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, obtain a driving record from the Driver License Division, review your own internal records to see whether the person previously applied or worked for you, or supply it to a government entity for a program that requires it before an offer. If you ask for the data and then never take the step that justified asking, the statute says you have violated it.
The practical fix is simple. Strip the Social Security number and date of birth fields off your application form. Collect them on the onboarding packet after the offer, alongside the W-4 and I-9.
How Fast Must You Report And Pay A New Utah Employee?
Utah runs on short clocks. Four of them matter for a first hire.
- Form I-9 Section 1: completed by the employee no later than the first day of employment, with Section 2 completed by you after inspecting acceptable documents.
- New hire report: within 20 days of the employee’s first day of work, filed with the Utah New Hire Registry. An employer who misses the deadline is subject to a civil penalty.
- Regular paydays: at intervals no longer than semimonthly, on days designated in advance, with wages for a pay period paid within 10 days after that period closes. If payday lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, you pay the preceding day. Yearly salaried employees may be paid monthly, on or before the seventh of the following month. See Utah Code 34-28-3.
- Final paycheck: if you separate an employee from payroll, unpaid wages are due immediately and must be paid within 24 hours. If the employee resigns, the wages are due on the next regular payday. See Utah Code 34-28-5.
The 24-hour termination rule catches Utah owners repeatedly. If you fire someone on a Friday afternoon, you do not get to wait for the next payroll cycle. Miss it after a written demand and the wages keep accruing at the employee’s separation rate for up to 60 days as a penalty.
On the rate itself, Utah’s minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Tipped employees may be paid $2.13 per hour so long as tips plus the cash wage reach the minimum. Minors under 18 must be paid minimum wage, except that an employer may pay a minor $4.25 per hour during the first 90 days of employment. Overtime obligations come from federal law, so read our explainer on the Fair Labor Standards Act before you classify anyone as salaried and exempt.
Is Your First Hire An Employee Or An Independent Contractor?
Many Utah owners try to sidestep this entire list by paying the first worker on a 1099. That works only when the person genuinely is an independent contractor, and Utah adds a wrinkle that surprises people.
Under Utah Code 34A-2-103(7), if you procure work to be done for you by a contractor over whose work you retain supervision or control, and that work is part or process of your own trade or business, then the contractor, everyone the contractor employs, every subcontractor, and every one of their employees are treated as your employees for workers’ compensation purposes. Utah calls this the statutory employer rule. A sole proprietorship, corporation, partnership, or LLC can be a statutory employer even if it directly employs no one at all.
So the 1099 label does not end the analysis. If you set the hours, direct the method, supply the tools, and the work is what your business does, you are likely looking at an employee for wage purposes and a covered worker for injury purposes no matter what the invoice says. Get the classification decision reviewed before the first payment, not after an injury or an audit. Our overview of business law and taxes covers the downstream tax exposure when a classification is later reversed.
Which Utah And Federal Employment Laws Apply At One Employee?
Employment law is threshold-driven. Knowing which statutes switch on at which headcount tells you what you actually have to build now versus what can wait.
| Requirement | Applies at | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Workers’ compensation coverage | 1 employee | Utah Code 34A-2-201 |
| Utah unemployment insurance contributions | 1 employee, any portion of a day | Utah Employment Security Act |
| Utah minimum wage and payday rules | 1 employee | Utah Code 34-28 and 34-40 |
| Form I-9 verification | 1 employee | Federal immigration law |
| New hire reporting within 20 days | 1 employee | Utah New Hire Registry |
| Utah Antidiscrimination Act | 15 employees for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks | Utah Code 34A-5-102 |
| Title VII and the ADA | 15 employees | Federal |
| Family and Medical Leave Act | 50 employees | Federal |
| Mandatory E-Verify for private employers | 150 employees | Utah Code 13-47-201 |
Two notes on that table. First, the Utah Antidiscrimination Act protects race, color, sex, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions including breastfeeding, age, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity, but only for employers at the 15-employee threshold. Second, mandatory E-Verify under Utah Code 13-47-201 reaches private employers with 150 or more employees, and that section is scheduled to repeal on the earlier of July 1, 2027 or 120 days after a specified gubernatorial finding. A first-employee business is far below both lines.
Being under a threshold is not a license to discriminate. Federal contractors face separate rules, some Utah cities and counties impose their own requirements, and a jury still hears the facts if you fire someone in a way that violates public policy or an implied contract created by your own handbook.
What Documents Should You Have Signed Before Day One?
Utah is an at-will employment state, which means either party can end the relationship at any time for any lawful reason. That default is easy to destroy accidentally. A handbook that promises progressive discipline, an offer letter that quotes an annual salary without qualification, or a supervisor who promises a year of work can all support a claim that the employment was not at will after all.
A clean first-hire packet usually contains:
- An offer letter or employment agreement stating the position, pay rate, pay frequency, exempt or non-exempt status, and an explicit at-will statement.
- Form I-9 with copies of the documents you inspected, stored separately from the personnel file.
- Federal Form W-4.
- Direct deposit authorization, remembering that you cannot designate a particular bank for the employee.
- An acknowledgment page for whatever policies you do adopt, even if you are too small for a full handbook.
- A confidentiality or nondisclosure agreement if the employee will touch customer lists, pricing, formulas, or code.
If you are considering a non-compete, know the current limits. Utah Code 34-51-201 caps post-employment non-compete agreements at one year from the end of employment, and an agreement that exceeds it is void. Utah also amended the statute effective May 6, 2026 to prohibit healthcare non-compete agreements outright and to bar veterinarian non-competes unless the veterinarian holds at least a 5% ownership interest. If your first hire is a clinician or a veterinary professional, a non-compete is no longer an option, and the drafting energy belongs in confidentiality and customer non-solicitation terms instead.
What Are The Most Common Mistakes Utah Employers Make On The First Hire?
- Binding workers’ compensation after the start date. The gap between day one and the policy effective date is exactly when a claim becomes uninsured.
- Asking for a Social Security number on the job application. A pre-offer request violates Utah Code 34-46-201 unless a listed exception applies.
- Waiting for the next payroll to pay a terminated employee. Utah gives you 24 hours, not two weeks.
- Treating a full-time worker as a 1099 contractor. The statutory employer rule and the wage statutes both look past the label.
- Paying monthly. Unless the employee is on a yearly salary, semimonthly is the outer limit.
- Copying a handbook off the internet. Borrowed policies routinely promise more than Utah law requires and erode at-will status.
- Missing the 20-day new hire report. It takes five minutes online and carries a civil penalty if skipped.
- Skipping the posters. The Utah Labor Commission requires workplace notices covering workers’ compensation, occupational safety, and wage and hour rights, in addition to the federal postings.
For a broader walkthrough of the process beyond the first hire, see our companion guide on how to hire employees legally in Utah, and our overview of employment law for the issues that arrive as the team grows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need an EIN to hire my first employee in Utah?
Yes. Once you have payroll, you need a federal Employer Identification Number even if you have been filing as a sole proprietor under your Social Security number. The IRS issues an EIN online at no cost, and Utah’s withholding and unemployment registrations both ask for it.
How long do I have to report a new hire in Utah?
Twenty days from the employee’s first day of work. You report the employee’s name, address, Social Security number, and date of hire, plus your business name, address, and federal identification number, through the Utah New Hire Registry. Failing to report on time carries a civil penalty.
Does Utah have its own W-4 form?
No. Utah does not issue a separate state withholding certificate. Employers use the employee’s federal Form W-4 and calculate Utah withholding from the schedules and tables in the Tax Commission’s Publication 14, then file returns on form TC-941E through Taxpayer Access Point.
Can I pay my first employee once a month in Utah?
Only if the employee is hired on a yearly salary basis, in which case you may pay monthly on or before the seventh of the following month. Otherwise Utah Code 34-28-3 requires paydays at intervals no longer than semimonthly, with wages paid within 10 days after the pay period closes.
What is Utah’s minimum wage for a first employee?
Utah’s minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Tipped employees may be paid $2.13 per hour if tips plus cash wages reach the minimum. Minors under 18 must receive minimum wage, though an employer may pay a minor $4.25 per hour during the first 90 days of employment.
Do I have to carry workers’ compensation for a part-time employee in Utah?
Yes, in almost every case. Utah’s Workers’ Compensation Act reaches any employer that regularly employs one or more workers, and it does not carve out part-time work. Narrow exemptions exist for some domestic and agricultural employment and for corporations whose only workers are up to five directors or officers.
Can I ask a Utah job applicant for their date of birth?
Not before you make an offer, unless a statutory exception applies. Utah Code 34-46-201 bars pre-offer requests for Social Security number, date of birth, and driver license number except when the request is uniform for the position, the applicant consents, and you are actually running a background check, credit check, driving record check, internal records review, or a required government submission.
Is my first employee at-will in Utah?
By default, yes. Utah follows at-will employment, so either side may end the relationship at any time for any lawful reason. Written offer letters, handbooks, and verbal assurances can create contractual rights that override the default, so state the at-will relationship expressly and avoid promising fixed terms or guaranteed procedures.
Hiring your first employee is the point where a business becomes a regulated employer. A short review of your offer letter, classification, and coverage before day one costs far less than untangling it after a claim.
Call Jeremy D. Eveland, MBA, JD at (801) 613-1472 for a consultation, or read more about working with a Utah business lawyer.
This article is general information about Utah law as of August 2026, not legal advice. Statutes, rates, and agency procedures change. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Jeremy Eveland
17 North State Street
Lindon UT 84042
(801) 613-1472
Jeremy Eveland
8833 S Redwood Road
West Jordan UT 84088
(801) 613-1472
