HR compliance · Guide

The Small-Business HR Compliance Calendar: Recurring Deadlines, Filings, and Posting Requirements for US Employers

Most small-business HR trouble does not come from a dramatic lawsuit. It comes from a form that was due on a date nobody wrote down. Here is the recurring calendar, sorted by when each obligation actually hits, with what to do and what it costs to miss.

Published September 14, 2026 · About a 10-minute read

HR obligations come in two rhythms. Some are event-driven: they start the day you hire, change, or lose an employee. Others are calendar-driven: they arrive on the same dates every year whether or not anything changed. A workable compliance system handles both, and the simplest version is a shared calendar with the dates below plus a short checklist that runs every time someone is hired or leaves.

This guide covers federal requirements that apply to most private US employers. States add their own layer, which we flag where it commonly matters. Headcount thresholds are noted for each item, because several of the heaviest obligations only start at 50 or 100 employees.

Part 1: Every time you hire

Form I-9: day one and day three

Every employer must verify identity and work authorization for every new employee, including US citizens and family members on payroll. The timing is strict:

Section 1 (completed by the employee) is due no later than the first day of work for pay.
Section 2 (completed by you, after physically examining original documents or using the DHS-authorized remote procedure if you are enrolled in E-Verify) is due within three business days of the start date. Someone who starts Monday must be finished by Thursday.
Download the current edition of the form from uscis.gov rather than reusing an old PDF from a shared drive.

Retention: keep each I-9 for three years after the hire date or one year after employment ends, whichever is later. A person hired in March 2022 who leaves in June 2026 has a purge date of June 2027. Store I-9s separately from personnel files so you can hand them over in an inspection without exposing unrelated records.

Reverification: if an employee's work authorization document has an expiration date (an Employment Authorization Document, for example), calendar that date and complete Supplement B before it passes. Do not reverify US passports or Permanent Resident Cards.

If you miss it: I-9 paperwork violations are assessed per form, with civil penalties that run from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars each and are adjusted for inflation every year. A 30-person company with sloppy forms can face a five-figure fine from a single ICE Notice of Inspection, which gives you three business days to produce the records.

New-hire reporting: within 20 days

Federal law requires employers to report each new or rehired employee to the state new-hire directory, which child-support agencies use to locate parents. The federal outer limit is 20 days after the hire date, and a number of states set a shorter window, so check your state directory's website. The report typically includes the employee's name, address, and Social Security number, plus your business name, address, and federal EIN. Many payroll providers file this automatically; confirm yours does rather than assuming.

Employers with workers in more than one state may elect to report all new hires to a single state, but must register that election with the federal Office of Child Support Services first.

If you miss it: state penalties for late reporting are usually modest per hire, but they climb sharply where a state finds a pattern or intent, and the practical fallout is worse: child-support income withholding orders arrive late, and you can become responsible for amounts you should have withheld.

Form W-4 and state withholding forms: before the first paycheck

Collect a federal Form W-4 before running the employee's first payroll, along with any state withholding certificate your state requires. If a new employee never returns a W-4, federal rules tell you to withhold as if they were single (or married filing separately) with no adjustments. Keep W-4s for at least four years.

Part 2: The annual calendar

Deadline	Obligation	Who it applies to
January 1	State and local minimum-wage increases; replace affected posters and update pay rates	Employers in affected states and cities
January 31	Form W-2 to employees and to the Social Security Administration; Form 1099-NEC to contractors and the IRS; Form 940 (FUTA); Q4 Form 941	All employers with payroll or paid contractors
February 1	Post the OSHA Form 300A summary through April 30	Employers required to keep OSHA injury logs
February 15	Employees claiming exemption from withholding must give you a new W-4	Any employee who claimed "exempt" last year
March 2	Electronic submission of OSHA injury data through the Injury Tracking Application	Establishments meeting size-and-industry thresholds
Early March / March 31	ACA Forms 1095-C to employees (or notice of availability) and filing with the IRS	Applicable large employers (50+ full-time and equivalent employees)
April 30, July 31, October 31	Quarterly Form 941; most states' quarterly unemployment wage reports fall on the same dates	All employers with payroll
Spring (dates set yearly)	EEO-1 Component 1 report	Private employers with 100+ employees; federal contractors with 50+
July 1	Second common round of state and local minimum-wage changes	Employers in affected jurisdictions
July 31	Form 5500 for calendar-year retirement and certain welfare benefit plans (extensions available)	Employers sponsoring covered benefit plans
Q4	Review handbook, check posters, confirm next year's state unemployment tax rate notice	Everyone

When a federal deadline falls on a weekend or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day. Form 940 may be filed by February 10 if all FUTA deposits were made on time.

January 31: the busiest date of the year

W-2s go to employees and to the SSA on the same day, and unlike most information returns there is no automatic extension for the SSA copy. Late or incorrect W-2s trigger per-form penalties that increase the longer you wait, and penalties apply separately to the employee copy and the government copy. The practical fix is to reconcile payroll in early December: confirm Social Security numbers, addresses, and any taxable fringe benefits (such as personal use of a company vehicle) before the holidays, not after.

OSHA Form 300A: February 1 through April 30

If you are required to keep OSHA injury and illness records, you must post the Form 300A annual summary for the prior calendar year in a place where employees normally see notices, and leave it up from February 1 until April 30. Post it even if you had zero recordable cases; enter zeros. A company executive must certify the summary.

Two exemptions matter to small businesses. Employers with 10 or fewer employees at all times during the previous calendar year are generally exempt from routine recordkeeping, and businesses in certain low-hazard industries (many retail, professional services, and finance categories) are partially exempt regardless of size. Neither exemption excuses you from reporting a work-related fatality to OSHA within 8 hours, or an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours.

Separately, establishments with 20 to 249 employees in designated higher-hazard industries, and those with 250 or more employees that must keep records, submit 300A data electronically by March 2. Keep the logs and summaries for five years.

If you miss it: recordkeeping and posting failures are citable as other-than-serious or serious violations, and each carries its own penalty. Inspectors often ask for the 300 logs first, so missing paperwork tends to set the tone for the rest of a visit.

February 15: expiring "exempt" W-4s

An employee's claim of exemption from federal income tax withholding lasts one calendar year. If they do not submit a new W-4 by February 15, begin withholding as single or married filing separately with no adjustments, unless you hold an earlier valid non-exempt W-4 for them. Send a reminder in January so nobody is surprised by a smaller paycheck.

Part 3: Posters, which change more often than people think

Federal law requires most private employers to display several notices where employees can see them. The core set for a typical small business:

"Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal" (EEOC), for employers with 15 or more employees.
Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (federal minimum wage), for nearly all employers.
Job Safety and Health: It's the Law (OSHA).
Employee Polygraph Protection Act notice.
Family and Medical Leave Act notice, for employers with 50 or more employees.
USERRA rights of service members, which can be satisfied by posting.

There is no single federal "update day." Agencies revise posters when laws or rules change, and states typically revise theirs alongside minimum-wage increases on January 1 or July 1. The Department of Labor's free elawposter tool will tell you which federal posters apply. For state posters, go to your state labor department's site; you do not need to buy a laminated bundle, and mail that warns of large fines unless you buy one immediately is almost always a sales pitch.

If employees work remotely, post the notices electronically in a place they actually use, such as the HR section of your intranet or the onboarding portal, and tell them where to find it.

If you miss it: fines vary by poster and agency, but the larger risk is legal. A missing EEOC or FMLA notice can extend the time an employee has to bring a claim, because they cannot be expected to know rights you never displayed.

Part 4: The state layer to watch

State requirements are where small employers most often fall behind, because they vary so much. Three recurring examples:

Harassment-prevention training. California requires it every two years for employers with five or more employees. New York and Illinois require annual training for all employers.
Paid sick leave notices and accrual. Many states and cities require a written notice at hire and a balance shown on pay stubs or another regular statement.
Final paycheck timing. Some states require immediate payment on termination; others allow until the next regular payday. Look this up before you need it, not during an exit meeting.

Turning this into a system you will actually keep

Put every annual date in a shared calendar with two reminders: 30 days out and 7 days out. Assign an owner to each entry, not just a department.
Build a one-page hire checklist: I-9 Section 1 on day one, Section 2 by day three, W-4 and state forms before payroll, new-hire report, required state notices, and any expiration date calendared for reverification.
Build a one-page exit checklist: final pay by your state's deadline, I-9 purge date calculated and recorded, benefits continuation notices where applicable.
Run a quarterly 30-minute check timed with Form 941: posters current, training due dates, headcount crossing a threshold (15, 20, 50, 100) that switches on new obligations.
Keep a record of what you did and when. In an audit, a dated log of posting, training, and filing is often what separates a warning from a penalty.

Headcount thresholds are triggers. Crossing 15 employees brings federal anti-discrimination laws into play; 50 brings FMLA and ACA employer obligations; 100 brings EEO-1 reporting. Check your count every quarter, including part-time staff, because some rules count them fully.

Where Foundry HR fits

Foundry HR keeps this calendar for you. Gene, our AI HR agent, tracks federal and state deadlines against your headcount and locations, drafts the notices and checklists with the underlying rule cited, and a qualified human reviews before anything is finalized.

See how Foundry HR works

This article is general information for US employers as of September 2026, not legal or tax advice. Deadlines, thresholds, and penalty amounts change; confirm current requirements with the IRS, SSA, USCIS, OSHA, the Department of Labor, and your state agencies, or with a qualified professional, before acting.