New hire reporting — 20-day deadline
Every employer required to withhold Delaware income tax must report each newly hired or rehired employee to the State Directory of New Hires within 20 days after the hire date. Employers who transmit reports electronically or magnetically may instead submit two monthly transmissions not less than 12 nor more than 16 days apart. A "newly hired employee" is defined as one who has not previously worked for the employer or who was separated for at least 60 consecutive days before rehire. Reports must include the employee's name, address, Social Security number, date services for remuneration first began, and the employer's name, address, and federal tax ID. The report can be submitted on a W-4 form or equivalent, by mail, magnetically, or electronically. Employers who fail to report face a $25 fine per violation; conspiring not to report or submitting a false report carries a $500 fine per offense.
Source: 30 Del. C. § 1156A
Wage notice at hire — rate, day, hour, and place of payment
Every employer with more than three employees must notify each new employee in writing, at the time of hire, of the employee's rate of pay and of the day, hour, and place of payment. This requirement appears in 19 Del. C. § 1108(a)(1), part of Delaware's Wage Payment and Collection Act. The statute does not define "at the time of hire," nor does it specify the precise moment the notice must be delivered relative to the employee's start date.
Content required
The written notice must specify three elements:
- Rate of pay — the hourly wage, salary, or other method by which compensation is calculated.
- Day, hour, and place of payment — the scheduled day and time of payment, and the location or method through which payment is made (for example, direct deposit to a specified financial institution or check distribution at a worksite).
Section 1108 is silent on the required format. Employers may satisfy the requirement through an offer letter, a standalone wage-notice form, or language embedded in onboarding documents, provided the notice is in writing and delivered to the employee.
Notice of changes to pay terms
Section 1108(a)(2) requires employers to notify employees in writing — or through a posted notice maintained in an accessible place where employees normally pass — of any reduction in the regular rate of pay or any change to the day, hour, or place of payment prior to the effective date of the reduction or change. The statute does not specify how far in advance the notice must be given, only that it must precede the change.
Employer-size threshold
The notice-at-hire and ongoing-notice requirements apply only to employers with more than three employees. Section 1108 does not define the counting period (snapshot at hire, calendar year average, per-location count, or another method). No published Delaware Department of Labor regulation or judicial decision interprets the threshold, so employers near the boundary should note the statute's silence on this question.
Enforcement and penalties
The Wage Payment and Collection Act grants the Delaware Department of Labor enforcement authority under 19 Del. C. § 1109 and § 1110. Section 1110(a) imposes criminal penalties (misdemeanor, fine not exceeding $1,000, or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both) for willful violations of any provision of Chapter 11, including the notice requirement. Section 1109 authorizes the Department to bring a civil action to recover unpaid wages and to seek injunctive relief. The statute does not establish a standalone civil fine specifically tied to failure to provide the notice at hire.
Relation to federal law
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act does not require employers to provide a written wage notice at hire, although it does impose recordkeeping obligations under 29 C.F.R. Part 516. Delaware's notice-at-hire requirement is thus a state-law overlay that applies to covered Delaware employers regardless of FLSA coverage.
Source: 19 Del. C. § 1108