# Officient — HRIS API: gotchas

> Canonical URL: https://developers.apideck.com/apis/hris/officient-io/gotchas

## GET /hris/employees/{id}

`employment_start_date` is the earlier of Officient's first employment date and the start
date of the employee's earliest role in their role history. Officient's first employment
date is the start of the first wage/contract period, so people who start through a temp
agency before getting a contract only get their real start date from role history. When
role history is unavailable (for example the connection lacks read access to it), the
first employment date is used. `employment_start_date` is only returned by Get Employee,
not by List Employees. Company-specific start dates kept in Officient custom fields are
returned unchanged in `custom_fields`.


[API reference](https://developers.apideck.com/apis/hris/reference.md) · [Coverage matrix](https://developers.apideck.com/apis/hris/coverage)