37 requirements and steps for Sunnyvale, CA · 0 handled
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Local rules shown for Sunnyvale, CA (Santa Clara County). State and federal rules apply wherever you open.
All 37 rules for Sunnyvale, as a printable checklist with what to do for each. Free — we just ask where to send it.
Every photo, illustration, font, video and song is copyrighted by default. Using one found on Google, Pinterest or another business's site without a license is infringement — even if you credit the creator or remove it later.
Risk: Statutory damages run $750–$30,000 per image, up to $150,000 if willful. Agencies scan the web and send demand letters automatically.
Sets federal minimum wage, overtime for non-exempt workers, recordkeeping, and child labor rules. California and Sunnyvale rules are stricter and take priority.
Risk: Misclassifying employees as exempt or as contractors leads to back-pay plus equal liquidated damages.
Verify identity and work authorization of every new hire within 3 business days.
Risk: Fines per form for paperwork errors.
Prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age (40+) and more.
Risk: EEOC charges and lawsuits; California FEHA applies at a lower threshold.
Employers must keep the workplace free of recognized hazards. In California, Cal/OSHA administers these rules with stricter standards.
Risk: Citations and penalties after inspections or complaints.
Ads must be truthful and claims substantiated. Fake or incentivized reviews and undisclosed influencer posts are illegal under the 2024 FTC rule on reviews.
Risk: Civil penalties per violation for fake reviews.
Marketing emails need an accurate sender, physical address and working unsubscribe. Marketing texts and robocalls require prior express written consent.
Risk: TCPA allows $500–$1,500 per unwanted text — class actions are common.
Obtain an EIN if you have employees or are a partnership/corporation. Withhold and deposit payroll taxes and file 1099s for contractors paid $600+ (rising to $2,000 for payments made after 2025).
Risk: Trust-fund penalties can hold owners personally liable.
If you offer group health insurance, employers with 20+ employees must offer continued coverage after job loss (COBRA). Smaller employers (2–19) are covered by Cal‑COBRA through the insurer.
Risk: Excise taxes and lawsuits for missed notices.
At 50+ employees, federal FMLA leave applies, and the ACA requires offering affordable health coverage to full-time staff and filing Forms 1094-C/1095-C.
Risk: ACA penalties of thousands of dollars per full-time employee.
Any sale of equity — including SAFEs and convertible notes — is a securities offering. Most startups rely on Rule 506(b): no public advertising, accredited investors, and a Form D filed with the SEC within 15 days of the first sale. Rule 506(c) allows public pitching but requires verified accredited status.
Risk: An offering without a valid exemption can be unwound: investors get their money back plus interest, and founders can face state and federal penalties.
Code, designs, brand and data belong to whoever created them unless they sign them over. Every founder, employee and contractor should sign an invention-assignment agreement before work starts, and the domain and trademark should be registered to the company.
Risk: This is the first thing investors and acquirers check. One missing assignment from a departed co-founder can block a raise or an exit, and the company can end up licensing its own product back.
Founders and early staff who receive shares that vest over time can file an 83(b) election within 30 days, taxing the whole grant at today's low value instead of at each vesting date.
Risk: Miss the 30-day window and there is no extension — you can owe tax on shares that later turn out to be worthless.
Options must be priced at or above the fair market value of the underlying shares on the grant date. A written independent 409A valuation is the usual way to prove that price.
Risk: Options priced too low mean the holder owes tax plus a 20% penalty, and the company picks up withholding exposure.
Shares in a qualifying C corporation held more than five years can be exempt from federal capital gains up to limits, provided the company's assets stayed under $50 million. California does not honour the exemption.
Risk: Founders who form an LLC, or who miss the five-year clock, lose the exclusion — often the single largest tax item in an exit.
Startups developing new products or software can claim the federal research credit, and a qualified small business can apply it against payroll taxes for up to five years instead of income tax. California has its own research credit.
Risk: Credits not claimed in the filing window are gone, and weak documentation invites an examination of every project.
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Gives Californians rights to know, delete, correct and opt out of the sale/sharing of their personal data. Ad trackers and pixels can count as "sharing".
Risk: $2,500 per violation ($7,500 intentional); data-breach suits with statutory damages.
Any website or app that collects personal info (even a contact form or newsletter signup) from Californians must post a conspicuous privacy policy.
Risk: Up to $2,500 per violation under unfair competition law.
Advertised and listed prices must include all mandatory fees (service charges, booking fees). Restaurants may list a mandatory fee separately only if clearly disclosed with its purpose.
Risk: Unfair competition claims and AG enforcement.
Daily overtime after 8 hours, meal breaks (30 min before 5th hour), rest breaks (10 min per 4 hours), itemized pay stubs, and final pay on the last day. Sunnyvale's local minimum wage is higher than the state's.
Risk: PAGA lawsuits let employees sue for penalties on behalf of all workers.
Employees earn at least 1 hour per 30 worked; employers must allow use of at least 40 hours / 5 days per year.
Risk: Penalties and wage claims.
Bans discrimination and harassment; requires sexual harassment prevention training every 2 years (2 hrs supervisors, 1 hr staff).
Risk: Uncapped damages in harassment suits.
Mandatory for every California employer with even one employee.
Risk: Operating without it is a crime; stop-work orders and fines.
Register with EDD within 15 days of paying over $100 in wages. Employers with 1+ employee must offer a retirement plan or register for CalSavers.
Risk: CalSavers non-compliance penalties up to $750 per employee.
Every employer needs a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program. Since July 2024 most employers also need a written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan and annual training.
Risk: Among the most-cited Cal/OSHA violations.
Employers with 5+ employees (counting those outside CA) must give 2 hours of training to supervisors and 1 hour to all other staff every 2 years, within 6 months of hire.
Risk: Weakens your defense in harassment claims; CRD can order compliance.
With 5+ employees, eligible workers get up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for their own or a family member's serious illness, or baby bonding. Pregnancy disability leave applies at the same size.
Risk: Retaliation and interference lawsuits.
Employers with at least 1 employee that do not offer a retirement plan must register with CalSavers or offer their own plan.
Risk: Penalties of $250 per employee, rising to $500.
California presumes workers are employees unless all three ABC conditions are met: free from your control, doing work outside your usual business, and running their own independent business. Some professions have exemptions.
Risk: Misclassification brings back wages, payroll taxes, penalties up to $25,000 per violation, and PAGA lawsuits.
Most startups that plan to raise money form a C corporation (often in Delaware) and then register in California; others use an LLC. A company incorporated in another state that does business here must qualify with the Secretary of State as a foreign corporation and appoint a registered agent with a physical California address.
Risk: Trading under a company that isn't registered here limits your ability to enforce contracts in California courts and leaves founders personally exposed for what the business signs.
A corporation has to adopt bylaws, hold an organisational meeting, issue shares by board consent and keep minutes and a stock ledger. An LLC needs an operating agreement. Company money must stay out of personal accounts.
Risk: Missing consents can mean the shares you 'own' were never validly issued. Mixing personal and company money lets a creditor reach you personally — the corporate veil is pierced.
California corporations file a Statement of Information every two years — LLCs every year — listing officers, address and agent. Delaware corporations also file an annual report and pay their own franchise tax.
Risk: A $250 late penalty, then suspension of the company's powers. Contracts, payroll and a raise all stall until it is revived.
Every corporation and LLC doing business in California pays at least $800 a year in franchise tax, plus a fee on gross receipts above $250,000, and files an annual return. New corporations may be exempt for the first year — the rule changes by tax year.
Risk: Unpaid franchise tax plus penalties, and the Franchise Tax Board can suspend the entity, which voids contracts and needs a formal revival.
California requires its own notice for the common private-placement exemptions. Form 25102(f) covers limited offerings to 35 or fewer purchasers and is due within 15 days of the first sale, with a fee; offerings relying on the federal exemption use a notice filing with DFPI instead.
Risk: An offering without the required state notice can be declared voidable in California, with DFPI able to order the money returned.
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Every business operating in Sunnyvale — including home-based and online businesses — must register and pay the annual business license tax.
Risk: Penalties and back taxes.
Sunnyvale sets its own minimum wage, adjusted every January 1 (2025: $19.00/hour). It applies to anyone working 2+ hours a week within city limits and is higher than the state minimum.
Risk: Back wages, penalties and city enforcement.
If you operate under a name other than your legal name or registered entity name, file an FBN with the County Clerk-Recorder and publish it in a newspaper.
Risk: You may be unable to sue to collect debts under that name.
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General information only, not legal advice. Thresholds and rates change annually — confirm with the official source or an attorney.
