HR compliance reporting guides
Practical, current guides to the named HR compliance filings that turn into data reconciliation projects - who files, what data each report needs, when it is due, and where teams lose time pulling the numbers together.
Every filing below is really a reporting problem wearing a compliance costume: headcount, hours, wages and demographics have to come out of your systems of record, be split by establishment, reconciled, and submitted on a fixed date. These guides cover the rule and the data work it creates.
Each guide is dated and reviewed. They are general information about reporting requirements, not legal advice.
Compliance deadline calendar
Every recurring HR and payroll filing deadline in one table - W-2, 1099-NEC, 941, ACA, OSHA 300A, Form 5500, VETS-4212 and state pay data reports.
Wage and hour fundamentals
The FLSA Regular Rate of Pay
What goes into the regular rate, the statutory exclusions, and how a bonus is reallocated across the weeks it was earned.
California Meal and Rest Break Premiums
Break timing rules, why premiums are paid at the regular rate, and the wage statement exposure after Naranjo.
FMLA Eligibility and the 1,250-Hour Test
The three eligibility tests, what counts toward 1,250 hours, and who carries the burden of proof for exempt staff.
State Paid Family and Medical Leave
2026 contribution rates, splits and wage bases across thirteen state programmes, plus what starts in 2027.
Payroll tax reporting
Form 941 to W-2 Reconciliation
Which Form 941 lines map to which W-2 boxes, what causes mismatches, and what the IRS notices mean.
W-2 and W-3 Filing
W-2 and W-3 deadlines, the 10-return e-file aggregation rule, penalty amounts, and how corrections work.
Form 1099-NEC and Worker Classification
The new $2,000 reporting threshold, the tests that decide contractor status, and what misclassification costs.
Qualified Overtime Compensation Reporting
The new W-2 Box 12 code TT requirement, what qualifies as overtime premium, and why it is not half the base rate.
Employment and wage reporting
Multiple Worksite Report (BLS-3020)
The quarterly BLS-3020 worksite breakdown, the 10-employee threshold, and why there is no national deadline.
State Unemployment Insurance Quarterly Wage Reports
Quarterly wage reports in every state where you have employees, differing deadlines, and taxable wage bases.
New Hire Reporting
The federal 20-day maximum, the data required, the 60-day rehire rule, and multistate registration.
Benefits and retirement plan data
Form 5500 and Plan Census Reconciliation
Form 5500 deadlines, the participant-count audit threshold, and the payroll data an auditor will test.
401(k) Nondiscrimination Testing - The Payroll Data Side
ADP, ACP, top-heavy and coverage testing from the payroll side, including the compensation-definition trap.
ACA Forms 1095-C and 1094-C
The March deadlines, the 2026 affordability threshold and penalty amounts, the line 14 and 16 codes, and the IRS letters.
ACA Measurement Periods and Hours of Service
Counting full-time equivalents, the look-back measurement method, affordability safe harbors, and 2026 penalties.
Pay and workforce transparency
California Pay Data Report
The two California filings, the second-Wednesday-of-May deadline, and mean and median hourly rate requirements.
San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO)
Covered employees, the 172-hour monthly cap, the per-hour expenditure rate, and the annual employer reporting form.
State Pay Data and Workforce Reporting
Five states, five different regimes: thresholds, deadlines, data required, and how they compare.
Illinois Equal Pay Registration Certificate
Individual-level wage and demographic data every two years for employers with 100 or more Illinois employees.
Massachusetts Wage Data Reports
The February 1 filing of federal EEO data with the Secretary of the Commonwealth, plus pay range disclosure.
Minnesota Equal Pay Certificate
Equal Pay Certificate requirements for contractors with 40 or more full-time employees, valid four years.
Colorado Demographic Workforce Data Reporting
Demographic workforce data in the periodic report to the Secretary of State beginning July 1, 2027.
Safety, insurance and hours
OSHA 300, 300A and 301 Recordkeeping
Who must keep injury records, the posting window, the electronic submission deadline, and how TRIR and DART are calculated.
Workers' Compensation Payroll Audit
What counts as payroll for premium, the overtime premium rule, subcontractor charges, and audit recordkeeping.
DOT Hours of Service and Electronic Logging Devices
The 11-hour driving limit, the 14-hour window, the 30-minute break, the 60/70-hour rule, and ELD records.
Federal contractor reporting
EEO-1 Component 1
Who files, the fourth-quarter snapshot, the ten job categories, and where the 2026 rescission proposal actually stands.
VETS-4212 Federal Contractor Veterans' Employment Report
The August 1 to September 30 filing window, what data is required, and the threshold confusion in the agency's own materials.
Prevailing wage and certified payroll
WH-347 Federal Certified Payroll
Weekly certified payrolls for federally funded construction: classifications, hours, wage determinations and the statement of compliance.
California DIR Certified Payroll
California public works certified payroll reporting through the state portal, including eCPR submission.