New Hire Paperwork before an Employee

donicek

Currently we are paying applicants who have been hired to come in and complete new hire paperwork and go for the drug test. We pay hourly folks per their timecard and for the exempt outside sales we pay 8 hours. The reasoning is that we ask questions and have a medical questionnaire form that only employees can be asked. Do we have to pay them to complete this paperwork or is the job offer sufficient to cover us asking the questions?

Rockie

When I worked for a hospital, this was all completed prior to the first day of employment and on the employee's own time. Their rationale was this person was not yet an employee and this was part of becoming an employee. Their physical (which was also required before employment), was done on their own time.

At my present position, I send a new hire packet to the employee and have them complete it before they arrive. On their first day, it takes just a few minutes to make sure everything is there, look at their I-9 info, etc. We don't do drug testing, but you can set this up prior to the first day also.

System

Our new hires rarely start the day they do the paperwork. The paperwork and drug testing is done on their time. They start earning when they actually start working.