Final paycheck laws by state: when the last paycheck is due after a firing or a resignation

The federal rule

The Department of Labor's page on the last paycheck says employers are not required by federal law to give former employees their final paycheck immediately. It adds that if the regular payday for the last pay period has passed and the employee has not been paid, the employee can contact the Wage and Hour Division or the state labor department.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Last Paycheck, dol.gov

The rule in five patterns

The patterns below sort states by the deadline that applies when the employer ends the employment. The table that follows gives the rule for both a firing and a resignation.

1. Same day or immediately (9 states): California, Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana and Nevada. Several of these carry a qualifier. Colorado allows payment within six hours after the start of the payroll office's next workday, or 24 hours if payroll is off site, when the payroll office is closed, Hawaii allows the next working day when immediate payment is not possible, Minnesota starts the clock when the employee demands payment, Missouri's penalty runs from a written request, and Montana allows a written policy to extend the deadline.
2. Next business day to three working days (6 states and DC): Alaska (three working days), Connecticut (next business day), the District of Columbia (next working day), New Hampshire (72 hours), Oregon (end of the first business day), Utah (24 hours) and Vermont (72 hours).
3. A set number of days (9 states): Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Tennessee and Texas. Some use the earlier of a day count or the next payday (Arizona, Idaho, Louisiana, Nebraska). Some use the later of the two (Delaware, Kentucky, Tennessee). New Mexico and Texas use a day count alone.
4. Next regular payday (22 states): Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Illinois adds "at the time of separation if possible." Ohio has no separate final pay section, so its regular payday schedule applies. South Carolina allows 48 hours or the next payday, capped at 30 days. South Dakota allows payment to wait until company property is returned.
5. No general final pay statute (4 states): Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. Missouri and Arkansas also have no statute for an employee who quits. In these states, employers must still pay all earned wages under the applicable wage payment rules; the absence of a separate final paycheck statute does not remove that obligation. The Department of Labor's guidance is the reference point for timing: an employee not paid once the regular payday for the last pay period has passed can contact the Wage and Hour Division or the state labor department.

For an employee who resigns, the deadline in most states is the next regular payday. Some states set a shorter deadline and a few set a longer one. Delaware, Kentucky and Tennessee use the later of the next payday or a set number of days, and Minnesota can push payment to the second payday, up to 20 days. Idaho, Louisiana, Montana and Nebraska use the earlier of the next payday or a day count. California requires payment within 72 hours, or at the time of quitting when the employee gave 72 hours of notice. Hawaii and New Hampshire require faster payment when the employee gave one pay period of notice, and Oregon when the employee gave 48 hours of notice. The District of Columbia and Nevada use the earlier of the next payday or seven days.

State by state table

Each state entry gives the deadline and the supporting legal authority where available. "Fired" includes a discharge for any reason. Where a state treats a layoff differently, the cell says so. The link in the last column is the page we opened for that row. Rows marked "secondary sources" rest on two independent published summaries because the official text could not be opened for this review.

Most of these statutes carry exceptions this table leaves out, such as commissions, seasonal work, migrant and agricultural workers, collective bargaining agreements and public employers. Read the linked text before applying a row to one of those cases.

Run the numbers on one separation

Example. An hourly employee earns $24.00 an hour and works 32 hours in the final week, so the final wages are 32 x $24.00 = $768.00. The company pays every other Friday, and the next regular payday is Friday 13 November 2026. The employee is let go at 4:00 p.m. on Friday 6 November 2026.

• California: the $768.00 is due at 4:00 p.m. that Friday, at the time of discharge.
• Massachusetts: due that same day, Friday 6 November.
• Oregon: due by the end of the first business day after the discharge, which is Monday 9 November.
• Texas: due within six calendar days, which is Thursday 12 November.
• New York: due by the regular payday, Friday 13 November.
• Kentucky: due by the later of the next payday or 14 days, which is Friday 20 November.

If the same employee resigned that Friday afternoon without notice, California would allow 72 hours, until Monday afternoon. In most of the other states the deadline would be the 13 November payday.

The cost of a miss can exceed the paycheck. In California, an employer that willfully fails to pay final wages on time can owe a waiting time penalty of one day's pay for each day the wages remain unpaid, up to 30 calendar days. At 8 hours a day, this employee's daily rate is $192.00, so the maximum penalty is 30 x $192.00 = $5,760.00, more than seven times the $768.00 that was due.

Mistakes that make a final paycheck late

1. Firing late on a Friday in a state with a same day or next day rule. California and Massachusetts require payment on the day of discharge, and payroll is often closed by Friday afternoon. Oregon requires payment by the end of the first business day after any discharge, so a Friday firing is due Monday. Calculate final wages before the termination meeting and arrange payment within the state's deadline. Confirm that the payment method is permitted and that the employee can reach the funds when the law requires.
2. Holding the check until equipment comes back. South Dakota's statute expressly lets the employer delay final pay until company property is returned. New Jersey's labor department says the law does not permit deductions for failure to return company property of any kind. West Virginia and Montana allow withholding only under written conditions and set procedures. Colorado sets a notice process with a 10 day window. Elsewhere, the safer course is to pay on time and recover the property separately.
3. Deducting what the employee owes. Minnesota bars deductions from final wages for lost or stolen property or other claimed debts, except as another section allows. Maine allows a signed loan or advance to be deducted but bars setoffs for property damage. Montana allows withholding for alleged theft only with written agreement or a police report filed within seven business days. Check the deduction rules before taking anything out of the last check.
4. Sending a resigning employee home before the notice period ends. In California, the Labor Commissioner explains that an employer who tells an employee to leave before the end of the notice period has turned a quit into a discharge, and the final wages are due immediately.
5. Leaving out pay that is part of the final wages. Commissions, bonuses and, in some states, accrued vacation can be due with the final check or on a separate schedule. North Carolina, for example, sets bonus and commission timing at the first payday after the amount can be calculated.
6. Using one company deadline for every state. A rule built for a next payday state is late in Colorado, Utah or Connecticut after a firing. Build the deadline from each employee's work state.

Penalties where we verified them

Penalties vary widely and are summarized here only where we read the source. California: up to 30 days of the daily wage when the failure is willful. Minnesota: after a demand, a penalty of the employee's average daily earnings for each day in default, up to 15 days. Missouri and Utah: wages continue at the same rate after a request or written demand, up to 60 days. North Dakota: a daily wage for each day in default, ending 30 days after the default. West Virginia: liquidated damages of two times the unpaid amount. Ohio: when wages remain unpaid 30 days past the regular payday with no dispute, 6 percent of the unpaid amount or $200, whichever is greater. Arkansas: double the wages due if a discharged employee is not paid within seven days of the next regular payday, based on two secondary sources.

What this note does not cover

• PTO and vacation payout rules.
• Penalties in states not listed above, and attorney fee rules.
• Exceptions for commissions, seasonal and agricultural work, collective bargaining agreements and public employers.
• Payment method rules, such as payroll cards, direct deposit after separation and where the check must be delivered.
• Local ordinances and the rules for an employee who dies before final pay is issued.