First employee & first shift check
Before the first paid shift—or before you inherit a seller’s team
Tell us who will employ the person, when work starts, how they may be paid, where they will work, what they will do, and what is ready. You’ll get a dated call sheet: who to contact, what to gather, and what must be settled first.
Prefer to read first? See a worked example · See a finished sample call sheet
Built from current official Michigan starting points
This is a starting map. The agency or local office makes the final call.
Is someone in immediate danger or badly hurt? Call 911 first. A work-related death, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye also has a short MIOSHA reporting clock; open the official page now. Open MIOSHA injury reporting.
The first paid shift starts more than payroll.
A payroll company can file what you give it. It cannot name the real employer, decide whether someone is an employee, make an unsafe task safe, or move a seller’s policy and records to a buyer.
This check gives you a starting order. It does not calculate pay, choose benefits, fill out forms, classify a worker, or say the employer is compliant.
A short call sheet, in the right order.
Why it showed up
Every task points back to something you told us.
What to ask
Use the question on the phone or in an email.
What remains unknown
The call sheet names what the agency or local office still needs to decide.
Made for the day the relationship becomes real
Useful before an offer, the first paid shift, a rehire, or a business closing with retained workers.
This route keeps the real employing person or entity, federal employer ID number, Michigan withholding, unemployment setup, Form I-9 timing, new-hire reporting, pay records, earned sick time, workers’ compensation, youth work permits, workplace notices, job hazards, training, and seller-team handoff in separate lanes. It gives owners, family, seasonal, temporary-agency, intern, volunteer, 1099, remote, and out-of-state arrangements a careful facts check instead of accepting the label.