50-State Surveys › Final Paycheck Deadlines by State
Final Paycheck Deadlines by State
How soon must an employer pay a departing employee's final wages, and what happens if the paycheck is late?
51 of 51 jurisdictions verified
every entry statute-checked, oldest 2026-07-06
What this survey covers
When a job ends, federal law doesn't say exactly when the last paycheck is due — it only requires payment by the next regular payday at the latest. States are free to require faster payment, and many do, often with a different deadline depending on whether the employee was fired or quit. Some go further and add a stiff daily penalty for a late check; others have no state deadline law at all. This survey answers one question, state by state: how soon must the final paycheck arrive, and what happens if it doesn't? Each state's page states the rule in plain English, quotes the statute it comes from, and shows the date we last verified the statutory text.
How to read the table
Each column is one feature of the state's final-paycheck rule, answered the same way for every state, with the statutory citation compressed into the cell. Where a state has no statute at all, the cell says so directly rather than leaving the deadline columns blank. Click a state for the full plain-English page: the rule dimension by dimension, the practical traps people actually hit, and the verbatim statutory text with official source links.
What the finished 51-jurisdiction table shows
Discharge vs. quit. A slight majority of states draw NO distinction at all: Ohio, Oklahoma, Indiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Maryland, Kentucky, Louisiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho, West Virginia, Maine, Rhode Island, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wyoming (among others) all pay a fired employee and a quitting employee on the exact same schedule, usually the next regular payday. A substantial minority instead accelerate payment specifically for an involuntary discharge — California's same-day rule is the best-known version, joined by Colorado, Utah (a flat 24 hours), Nevada, Connecticut, the District of Columbia (the next working day), and Alaska (3 working days). A handful of states run the pattern in reverse: Arizona and Oregon pay a discharge on a flat schedule but make the QUIT deadline notice-contingent instead, and Montana goes further still — an involuntary discharge is immediate by default, but an employer can contractually push it back to the slower quit deadline with a pre-established written policy. Kentucky's "whichever occurs LAST" rule (the later of the next pay period or 14 days) is a genuine outlier in the other direction: most "later of" and "earlier of" states pick the SOONER date, not the later one. Missouri and Arkansas each have a real statutory gap on one side only: a discharge has a deadline and a penalty, but a voluntary quit has no state deadline at all. And four states — Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi — have no separation-pay deadline statute of any kind, for either kind of separation; only the federal FLSA's general next-payday floor applies, which is not itself a specific deadline.
Vacation and PTO payout. The default rule in most states is policy-contingent: vacation pay is owed at separation only if the employer's own written or established policy already promises it, and the wage-payment statute itself creates no independent floor (Texas, New Jersey, Virginia, Nevada, Kentucky, and many more). A meaningful minority go further and BAR forfeiture once a policy exists: California's § 227.3 is the model, joined by Illinois, Colorado (via case law), Maine (for employers with 11+ employees), North Dakota (by administrative rule), and Rhode Island (once an employee hits one year of tenure). Wyoming threads a middle path — forfeiture is allowed, but only with a written policy the employee has separately acknowledged in writing, a two-part test that trips up employers who have only one piece of it. A few states' own courts have gone the other way entirely and held vacation pay is NOT "wages" under the wage-payment statute even when an employer's policy promises it — Missouri and Hawaii both reach this result, leaving a contract claim as the only remedy.
Penalty for a late check. There's no single majority formula. Several states use an automatic daily percentage capped at a multiple of the unpaid wages (Delaware and New Hampshire both cap at 10%/day up to 100%; the District of Columbia's 10%/day capped at treble is one of the most aggressive in the survey). Others use a flat multiplier with no daily component at all: Vermont's flat doubling, New Jersey's up to 200%, and Illinois' 5%-per-month. Wyoming stands apart structurally — there's no liquidated-damages formula at all, just a MANDATORY 18%-per-year interest award plus attorney's fees once a court finds wages were justly due, a genuinely different mechanism from every liquidated-damages state. South Dakota sets one of the highest bars to clear: double damages require proving the employer's refusal was "oppressive, fraudulent, or malicious," not just late. And Texas has no automatic civil penalty attached to a late final paycheck at all — enforcement runs through the state wage-claim agency's administrative process instead.
Get this answered for your state
This survey compares every state side by side. Ezel applies your state's law to your specific situation and answers with citations to the statutes.
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| State | Governing law | Deadline if fired or laid off | Deadline if the employee quits | Unused vacation/PTO payout required? | How final pay must be delivered | Penalty for a late or unpaid final check | How to enforce it | Exceptions and special rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama verified 2026-07-06 | No Alabama statute addresses wage payment, generally or on separation. Alabama's own Department of Labor states plainly that the state has no wage-and-hour law of any kind, deferring entirely to federal law (the Fair Labor Standards Act) for pay timing, frequency, and method. A 2018 bill (HB49) that would have created a final-paycheck deadline for the first time died in committee and was never revived |
No state deadline exists. In practice, employers pay final wages on the next regularly scheduled payday, the same floor the federal FLSA sets for every paycheck, since nothing in Alabama law requires anything faster |
The same absence applies. Alabama draws no distinction between a discharge and a quit because no statute addresses separation timing at all |
No statutory requirement in either direction. Alabama has no vacation-pay statute, so whether unused vacation is paid out at separation, and whether a "use-it-or-lose-it" policy is valid, depends entirely on the employer's own written policy or employment agreement, enforced (if at all) as an ordinary contract claim rather than under any wage law |
Not addressed by any Alabama statute. There's no state rule requiring a specific payment method (check, direct deposit, payroll card) or place of payment for a final paycheck; an employer follows its own ordinary payroll practices |
None under state law. Alabama has no statute imposing a penalty, liquidated damages, or fee-shifting specifically for a late or unpaid final paycheck. The failed 2018 bill would have added a 10%-per-day penalty for unreasonable nonpayment, but it never passed |
Alabama's Department of Labor doesn't adjudicate ordinary wage-payment disputes; its own guidance directs employees to the federal government instead. A departing employee's realistic options are a complaint to the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (for a minimum-wage or overtime shortfall under the FLSA) or a private breach-of-contract or quantum meruit lawsuit in Alabama state court for wages actually owed under the employment relationship. There's no state wage-claim agency and no state-law fee-shifting statute for a routine unpaid-final-wages claim |
One narrow Alabama statute does reach an unpaid final paycheck indirectly: under the state's unclaimed-property law, wages or other compensation for personal services are presumed abandoned one year after they become payable, far shorter than the general 3-year dormancy period for most other property types. An employer holding unclaimed wages must file a report with the state before November 1 covering the 12 months ending the prior June 30, and must keep records of that report for 10 years. If a departing employee had a court-ordered wage garnishment in place, the employer must also notify the garnishing court of the termination |
| Alaska verified 2026-07-07 | Alaska Statutes Title 23, ch. 05, art. 2 (Wage Claims); the separation deadline and penalty are both in AS 23.05.140 |
3 working days after termination, regardless of the reason (AS 23.05.140(b)), but a genuinely TEMPORARY layoff (recall expected, no actual termination of employment) is instead paid on the next regular payday under AS 23.05.170, per the Dept. of Labor's own guidance distinguishing the two |
The next regular payday, as long as that payday is at least 3 days after the employer received the resignation notice; if the next payday would fall sooner than that, the deadline rolls to the FOLLOWING regular payday (AS 23.05.140(b)) |
No independent statutory floor: Alaska's wage-payment chapter has no vacation/PTO provision. The Dept. of Labor treats a WRITTEN employer policy as controlling; absent any written policy, the department's own position is that already-accrued leave belongs to the employee. Vacation and severance pay are separately listed as claim types the department may take assignment of once owed (AS 23.05.220(a)) |
Cash, a negotiable check/draft/order cashable at face value at an in-state bank, or, as of July 1, 2026, a payroll card account, at the employee's usual pay location or an agreed location (AS 23.10.040(a), AS 23.05.140(b)); a payroll card account is only allowed if the employee voluntarily authorized it (or didn't authorize direct deposit) and the card gives at least one fee-free withdrawal per week or pay period, free balance checks, no enrollment/issuance/transfer/point-of-sale fees, and FDIC/NCUA pass-through insurance (AS 23.10.044); paying with anything else is a misdemeanor (AS 23.10.040(d)) |
A continuing-wage penalty at the employee's regular wage rate from the date of DEMAND until actual payment, capped at 90 working days, whichever amount is less (AS 23.05.140(d)-(e)) |
A wage claim with the Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development (which can take assignment of the claim and sue, AS 23.05.220, 23.05.230), or a private civil suit; the statute's own attorney's-fee-shifting provision (AS 23.10.110) reaches only unpaid minimum-wage/overtime claims, not a late-final-paycheck claim under AS 23.05.140 itself |
A good-faith dispute over the amount owed only requires paying the conceded portion, without condition, while preserving the employee's remedies for the balance (AS 23.05.180); a strike, lockout, or genuinely temporary layoff during a pay period is paid on the next regular payday, not accelerated (AS 23.05.170) |
| Arizona verified 2026-07-06 | Arizona's wage-payment statutes, A.R.S. §§ 23-350 through 23-364 (Title 23, ch. 2, art. 7); § 23-353 sets the separation-pay deadlines and § 23-355 sets the treble-damages remedy |
"When an employee is discharged from the service of an employer, he shall be paid wages due him within seven working days or the end of the next regular pay period, whichever is sooner" (§ 23-353(A)) |
"When an employee quits the service of an employer he shall be paid in the usual manner all wages due him no later than the regular payday for the pay period during which the termination occurred." A quit gets the slower, ordinary-payday deadline rather than the faster 7-working-day rule that applies to a discharge, and the employee can request payment by mail (§ 23-353(B)) |
No independent statute requires an employer to offer or pay out vacation. "Wages" is defined as "nondiscretionary compensation due an employee in return for labor or services rendered ... for which the employee has a reasonable expectation to be paid" (§ 23-350(7)): a test, not a fixed list of benefit types. Once an employer's own policy or established practice creates a reasonable expectation that unused vacation or PTO will be paid out, that payout is treated as wages owed in the final paycheck the same as any other earned compensation; absent such a policy or practice, nothing is owed |
Final wages must be paid in lawful money of the United States, or by negotiable check, draft, money order, or (for the state or a political subdivision) warrant that can be immediately redeemed in cash at a bank or other financial institution, or by deposit in a financial institution of the employee's choice, dated no later than the day the payment is given (§ 23-353(C)) |
No automatic per-day accrual. Missing the § 23-353 deadline is itself a petty offense (§ 23-353(D)). Separately, if an employer violates the wage-payment chapter and fails to pay wages due, the employee may recover in a civil action an amount treble the unpaid wages (§ 23-355(A)). And if the department or a court has already ordered the wages paid and the employer doesn't comply within 10 days after the order becomes final, the employer is liable for treble the unpaid amount plus interest at the legal rate (§ 23-360) |
An employee can sue directly for the treble-damages remedy under § 23-355, or, for unpaid wages of $12,000 or less, file a written wage claim with the Industrial Commission of Arizona's Labor Department within one year of the claim accruing instead (§ 23-356). The department investigates the claim, and if it finds the wages are validly owed, directs that they be paid (§ 23-357); the department can also pursue judgment, garnishment, or other collection remedies on the employee's behalf once its determination is final (§ 23-356(B)) |
An employer may withhold the disputed portion of wages (not the whole check) where there's a reasonable, good-faith dispute over the amount due, including a counterclaim or a claim of debt, reimbursement, recoupment, or set-off against the employee (§ 23-352). Employers whose principal place of business and payroll system are centralized outside Arizona may use a less-frequent (monthly) payday for professional, administrative, executive, outside-sales, or supervisory employees instead of the ordinary twice-a-month schedule (§ 23-351(B)) |
| Arkansas verified 2026-07-06 | Ark. Code § 11-4-405 sets the discharge deadline and doubling penalty; § 11-4-401 sets the general regular-payday schedule; §§ 11-4-301 to 11-4-306 set the administrative wage-dispute process |
By the next regular payday: not accelerated or immediate (§ 11-4-405(a)); this applies to a discharge, and Arkansas's general regular-payday statute (§ 11-4-401) doesn't distinguish a layoff from an ordinary discharge either |
No dedicated statute at all: Arkansas has no separate deadline, and no penalty, for a voluntary resignation; the general regular-payday schedule under § 11-4-401 keeps applying to whatever is still owed, but none of § 11-4-405's discharge-specific deadline or doubling penalty attaches to a quit |
No statute addresses vacation or PTO payout at all, in either the Payment of Wages subchapter or the general Wage Disputes subchapter: whether accrued vacation is paid out at separation depends entirely on the employer's own written policy or contract |
Wages must be paid in currency, by check, or by electronic direct deposit into the employee's account (an employee may opt out of direct deposit in writing), and an employee has a right to be paid in currency going forward if the employer has ever paid with a check drawn on insufficient funds (§ 11-4-402(b)); an employer may also pay by preloaded debit card with at least one free withdrawal per deposit (§ 11-4-403(f)); paying with scrip, tokens, or other non-cash instruments redeemable only later is unlawful (§ 11-4-403(a)) |
A one-time doubling of the wages due, not a per-day accrual, if the employer still hasn't paid within seven (7) days after the next regular payday following the discharge (§ 11-4-405(b)); there's no automatic penalty at all for a late final payment after a voluntary quit, since § 11-4-405 doesn't cover resignations |
A wage dispute of $2,000 or less can be brought to the Director of the Division of Labor for a free administrative hearing and decision, with either party able to seek judicial review afterward (§§ 11-4-301, 11-4-303, 11-4-304, 11-4-306); the director may also sue on behalf of an employee too poor to afford counsel, without the state having to post costs or bond (§ 11-4-304(b)); an employee can otherwise bring a private civil action directly to recover the unpaid wages and the § 11-4-405(b) doubling penalty |
Arkansas's general regular-payday statute (§ 11-4-401) applies only to corporations, while the discharge-payment rule of § 11-4-405 applies more broadly to any employer: a real structural gap between the two sections; the administrative wage-dispute hearing process is capped at a $2,000 amount in controversy (§ 11-4-301), so a larger claim has to go straight to court; the scrip/non-cash-payment ban doesn't apply to coal mines employing fewer than twenty men underground (§ 11-4-403(e)) |
| California verified 2026-07-23 | Cal. Lab. Code §§ 201-203 (deadlines, penalty); § 227.3 (vacation payout) |
Immediate — due the same day as the discharge or layoff (§ 201(a)) |
Immediate if 72 hours' notice given; otherwise within 72 hours of quitting (§ 202(a)) |
Required: all vested, unused vacation is paid out as wages at the final rate; no use-it-or-lose-it forfeiture allowed (§ 227.3) |
A discharged employee is paid at the place of discharge; a quitting employee is paid at the employer's office in the county where they worked (§ 208). Only an employee who quits without 72 hours' notice may request payment by mail, and then the mailing date counts as payment (§ 202(a)) |
Waiting-time penalty: wages continue at the employee's regular daily rate as a penalty from the due date until paid, capped at 30 days, if the employer's failure to pay was willful (§ 203(a)) |
Employee may sue for the unpaid wages and the penalty any time before the statute of limitations on the wage claim runs, or file a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner (§ 203(b)) |
Seasonal curing/canning/drying layoffs get up to 72 hours, not same-day (§ 201(a)). Industry-specific deadlines replace the default: temp services (weekly, § 201.3), motion-picture/broadcast (next regular payday, § 201.5), oil drilling (24 hrs excl. weekends/holidays, § 201.7), and live-theatrical/concert hiring-hall workers (set by CBA, § 201.9). Separate state-employee leave-deferral rules (§§ 201(b)-(d), 202(b)-(c)) are outside this survey's private-employer scope |
| Colorado verified 2026-07-06 | The Colorado Wage Act, C.R.S. §§ 8-4-101 through 8-4-123: § 8-4-109 sets the termination-pay deadlines and penalty, § 8-4-101(14) defines "wages," § 8-4-111 sets the CDLE administrative claim process, § 8-4-122 sets the limitations period |
Immediately (§ 8-4-109(1)(a)). If the employer's payroll office isn't operating at the moment of discharge, wages must be made available no later than 6 hours after that office's next regular workday, or, if payroll is handled off-site, delivered within 24 hours of that next workday to the work site, the employer's local office, or the employee's last-known mailing address |
The next regular payday, with no acceleration for advance notice (§ 8-4-109(1)(b)). If the employer makes the check available at the work site or local office but the employee hasn't picked it up within 60 days, the employer must then mail it to the employee's last-known address (§ 8-4-109(1)(c)) |
Yes, if the employer offers paid vacation at all: "If an employer provides paid vacation for an employee, the employer shall pay upon separation from employment all vacation pay earned and determinable in accordance with the terms of any agreement between the employer and the employee" (§ 8-4-101(14)(a)(III)). The Colorado Supreme Court held in Nieto v. Clark's Market, Inc., 2021 CO 48, that this text bars a "use-it-or-lose-it" or forfeiture-on-separation policy: an employer can set how vacation accrues, caps, or whether it exists at all, but earned vacation can't be forfeited once it vests |
Wages generally must be paid by a negotiable instrument payable on demand in cash, or by direct deposit or payroll card the employee has authorized (§ 8-4-102). At separation, the employer chooses where to make the final check available: the work site, its local office, or the employee's last-known mailing address (§ 8-4-109(1)(a)-(b)). An employer may withhold an amount for unreturned property or money only through a specific notice-and-audit process: up to 10 days after separation to audit and give written notice of the deduction, then 14 more days for the employee to return the property or pay before the deduction becomes final, and the deduction can never cut pay below minimum wage (§ 8-4-105(1)(e), (2)) |
Not automatic on a bare missed deadline: it requires a written demand first. If the employer still hasn't paid all earned, vested, and determinable wages within 14 days after the employee's written demand (or after an administrative claim or civil action is served), the employer owes the unpaid wages plus a penalty of the greater of 2 times the unpaid amount or $1,000; if the employee shows the nonpayment was willful, the penalty rises to the greater of 3 times the unpaid amount or $3,000 (§ 8-4-109(3)(b)). An employer that tenders full payment in good faith within that 14-day window owes no penalty unless the employee later recovers more than what was tendered (§ 8-4-109(3)(a.5)) |
An employee can file an administrative wage complaint with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment's Division of Labor Standards and Statistics (capped at claims of $13,000 or less as of July 1, 2026, up from $7,500) or bring a private civil action: both can award the § 8-4-109(3)(b) penalty. If the employee recovers more than what the employer tendered, a court may award attorney's fees and costs, and CDLE may award attorney's fees in an administrative claim recovering more than $5,000 (§ 8-4-110(1)(b)). Claims generally must be filed within 2 years of accrual, extended to 3 years for a willful violation (§ 8-4-122). CDLE can also impose its own fines of up to $50/day per employee and place liens on employer assets (§ 8-4-113) |
Severance pay is expressly excluded from "wages" (§ 8-4-101(14)(b)). Since a 2025 amendment (HB 25-1001, eff. 2025-08-06), an individual owning or controlling 25% or more of an employer can be held personally liable as an "employer" under the Act, unless they show they fully delegated day-to-day control (§ 8-4-101(6)); that same 2025 law also added misclassification penalties of $5,000-$50,000 per violation. During a strike, a discharged employee is paid at the place of discharge and a quitting employee at the employer's office or agency (§ 8-4-108). Independent contractors are excluded from coverage under a multi-factor test (§ 8-4-101(5)). The Act has no minimum-employee-count threshold: it covers even very small private employers |
| Connecticut verified 2026-07-06 | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-71c sets the deadline; § 31-76k requires payout of accrued fringe benefits (including vacation); § 31-72 sets the double-damages/attorney's-fees remedy |
A DISCHARGE must be paid in full by the business day immediately following the discharge (§ 31-71c(b)); a LAYOFF (or work suspended by a labor dispute) instead gets the next regular payday (§ 31-71c(c)): a real split within this single dimension |
By the next regular payday, through the regular payment channels or by mail (§ 31-71c(a)): slower than the next-business-day discharge deadline, with no notice-contingent acceleration |
Required, but only if the employer's own policy or a collective bargaining agreement already provides for paying out accrued fringe benefits (vacation, holidays, sick days, earned leave) at termination; once that policy exists, payment can never be less than the earned average rate for the accrual period (§ 31-76k) |
Through the employer's regular payment channels, or by mail (§ 31-71c(a)); no separate delivery rule is specified for a discharge or layoff beyond "in full" by the applicable deadline |
Twice the full amount of the unpaid wages, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees: unless the employer proves a good-faith belief that it was complying with the law, which limits recovery to the actual unpaid wages plus costs and attorney's fees (§ 31-72) |
A private civil lawsuit under § 31-72, or the Labor Commissioner can collect the unpaid wages (plus statutory interest) administratively and separately bring legal action to recover double damages on the employee's behalf; an agreement between employee and employer for different payment terms is no defense (§ 31-72) |
A layoff or labor-dispute suspension is treated differently from an ordinary discharge: it gets the slower next-payday deadline instead of the next-business-day rule (§ 31-71c(c)); in a genuine dispute over the amount owed, the employer must still pay the undisputed portion without condition and within the normal deadline (§ 31-71d); discretionary bonuses tied to subjective, unpredictable factors are not "wages" under this chapter at all, per Connecticut case law construing § 31-71a's definition |
| Delaware verified 2026-07-06 | Delaware Code Title 19, chapter 11 (Wage Payment and Collection Act); the separation deadline itself is § 1103 |
No fired-vs-quit distinction: wages are due on the LATER of the next regular payday under the employer's normal pay cycle or 3 business days after the last day worked (§ 1103(a)(1)) |
Identical rule as a discharge, suspension, or layoff: the later of the next regular payday or 3 business days after the last day worked (§ 1103(a)(1)); no notice-contingent split |
No independent statutory floor: the chapter's own "wage" definition excludes vacation pay (§ 1101(a)(8)). Vacation counts only as a "benefit or wage supplement" if the employer has an agreement to provide it, and then must be paid within 30 days after payment is required (§ 1109) |
Same channels as an ordinary payday, or by mail to the employee's requested address if the employee asks (§ 1103(a)(2)); ordinary paydays allow cash, a locally-cashable check, or direct deposit only on the employee's written request (§ 1102(a)) |
Liquidated damages equal to the LESSER of 10% of the unpaid wages for each day (excluding Sundays and legal holidays) or 100% of the unpaid wages, unless the employer has reasonable grounds to dispute the amount (§ 1103(b)); a separate $1,000-$5,000 civil penalty applies per violation of the chapter generally (§ 1112(a)) |
A private civil suit, or a Dept. of Labor collection action taken with the employee's consent; a prevailing plaintiff's judgment must include costs and reasonable attorney's fees (§ 1113) |
A payroll-disruption defense for a labor dispute, power failure, weather catastrophe, epidemic, fire, or explosion (§ 1103(c)); the chapter excludes federal and Delaware state/local government employees and independent contractors (§ 1101(a)); up to $300 of a deceased employee's wages can be paid to next of kin without probate (§ 1106) |
| District of Columbia verified 2026-07-06 | D.C. Code Title 32, ch. 13, subch. I (Wage Payment and Collection Law); the separation deadlines and penalty are in § 32-1303 |
The working day following the discharge (§ 32-1303(1)): extended to 4 days if the employee was responsible for money belonging to the employer, to verify the accounts first |
Whichever is EARLIER of the next regular payday or 7 days from the date of quitting (§ 32-1303(2)), for an employee without a written contract longer than 30 days; a labor-dispute work suspension is paid on the next regular payday too (§ 32-1303(3)) |
No standalone vacation section: once an employer's policy or contract creates a vacation-pay entitlement, it falls within the chapter's very broad "wages" definition ("fringe benefits paid in cash" / "other remuneration ... owed ... pursuant to a contract," § 32-1301(3)), making an ALREADY-PROMISED payout enforceable as wages under § 32-1303 like any other unpaid wage |
Lawful U.S. money or a check payable on demand by the drawee bank (§ 32-1302); the same payday framework governs both ordinary paychecks and the separation deadlines by cross-reference |
Liquidated damages of 10% of the unpaid wages for EACH working day the failure continues, capped at treble (3x) the unpaid wages, whichever is smaller (§ 32-1303(4)): among the most aggressive automatic per-day formulas in this topic |
A private civil suit (individual, joint, or class/collective) with mandatory attorney's fees and treble damages for a prevailing plaintiff (§ 32-1308), or an administrative wage claim with the Mayor's office culminating in a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (§ 32-1308.01), or Attorney General civil enforcement (§ 32-1306); a negligent violation is a misdemeanor ($2,500-$5,000 per affected employee), a willful violation a misdemeanor with up to 90 days in jail ($5,000-$10,000 per employee) (§ 32-1307) |
A bona fide dispute over the amount only requires paying the conceded portion, without condition, while the balance is pursued (§ 32-1304); a collective bargaining agreement can displace the discharge/quit deadlines (§ 32-1303 chapeau); general contractors and temporary staffing firms are jointly and severally liable for a subcontractor's or staffing firm's violations (§ 32-1303(5)-(6)); no private agreement can waive the chapter's protections (§ 32-1305) |
| Florida verified 2026-07-06 | No Florida statute sets a final-pay deadline; the general unpaid-wages remedy is Fla. Stat. § 448.08 (attorney's fees for the prevailing party in a wage suit) |
No state deadline. Payment by the next regularly scheduled payday is the ordinary practice, driven by the federal FLSA's payment-timing floor rather than any Florida-specific rule |
Same as a discharge: no Florida-specific deadline either way; the next regular payday is the ordinary practice for both |
No statutory requirement. Payout is owed only if the employer's own written policy or an employment agreement promises it; Florida courts treat that promise as an ordinary contract obligation, not a wage-statute one |
Not addressed by statute; governed by the employer's ordinary pay practices (direct deposit, check, etc.) and any employment agreement |
No statutory penalty tied to lateness itself. Fla. Stat. § 448.08 lets a court award the prevailing party in an unpaid-wages lawsuit its costs and a reasonable attorney's fee, regardless of how late the payment was |
A private civil lawsuit for unpaid wages under Florida contract/wage-claim law (with possible fee-shifting under § 448.08), or a federal Fair Labor Standards Act complaint to the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division; Florida has no state labor agency that adjudicates ordinary final-pay wage claims |
None found; Florida has no statute addressing final-pay timing for any category of private employee |
| Georgia verified 2026-07-06 | No Georgia statute sets a final-pay deadline. O.C.G.A. § 34-7-2 governs only how and how often wages are paid generally (twice a month, by cash/check/payroll card/direct deposit), not what happens at separation. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act's next-regular-payday practice is the only real floor |
No state deadline exists. In practice, employers follow the FLSA's general next-regular-payday floor, since Georgia law imposes nothing faster and nothing slower |
Same as a discharge: no Georgia statute addresses it at all, and no distinction is drawn between quitting and being fired because neither is addressed |
No independent statutory requirement. Vacation pay is owed only if the employer's own policy, handbook, or agreement promises it; once promised, it's enforceable as an ordinary contract claim under Georgia case law, not through any wage-payment statute (Amax, Inc. v. Fletcher, 305 S.E.2d 601 (Ga. Ct. App. 1983)) |
Wages must be paid in lawful U.S. money, by check, by credit to a payroll card account, or — with the employee's consent — by electronic transfer to the employee's own bank account; a payroll card requires a written fee disclosure before use (O.C.G.A. § 34-7-2(b), (c)) |
No statutory penalty, multiplier, or automatic damages attach to a late or unpaid final paycheck under Georgia law. An underpayment below Georgia's own minimum wage carries a specific civil remedy (O.C.G.A. § 34-4-6: the shortfall plus an equal amount as liquidated damages, plus costs and attorney's fees), but that's a minimum-wage-specific action, not a general final-pay remedy, and Georgia's state minimum wage ($5.15/hour) sits below the federal floor most employers must already meet |
No state wage-claim agency adjudicates a general final-pay dispute — the Georgia Department of Labor's own guidance routes wage complaints to federal resources (the U.S. DOL Wage and Hour Division) rather than a state process. Practical options are a breach-of-contract or quantum meruit suit in state court for wages owed under the employment relationship, or a federal FLSA claim (with its own remedies) where the shortfall implicates minimum wage or overtime |
O.C.G.A. § 34-7-2's twice-monthly payment-schedule rule doesn't reach the farming, sawmill, or turpentine industries at all, and separately exempts officials, superintendents, or other department heads employed by the month or year at a stipulated salary from its own payment-frequency requirement |
| Hawaii verified 2026-07-06 | Hawaii Revised Statutes ch. 388, Payment of Wages and Other Compensation, Payment of; the separation deadline itself is § 388-3 |
Discharge (with or without cause): wages in full at the time of discharge, or the next working day if conditions prevent immediate payment (§ 388-3(a)). A temporary layoff or a labor-dispute work stoppage gets a different, slower deadline: the next regular payday (§ 388-3(c)): Hawaii treats an outright discharge and a mere layoff differently rather than lumping them together |
Next regular payday by default (§ 388-3(b)). But if the employee gives at least one full pay period's notice before quitting, the employer must pay all wages earned at the time of quitting: effectively immediate payment, a much longer notice trigger than most states use |
No independent statutory floor. Hawaii's Supreme Court has held that payment for unused vacation on separation is not "wages" under the chapter's own definition (Casumpang v. ILWU Local 142, 108 Haw. 411, 121 P.3d 391 (2005)), so payout depends entirely on the employer's own written policy or contract. The chapter does require an employer to notify employees in writing or by posted notice of its vacation and sick-leave policies (§ 388-7(3)), but that's a disclosure duty, not a payout mandate |
Through the employer's regular pay channels, cash, a check, authorized direct deposit, or a compliant pay-card program the employee can decline (§§ 388-2, 388-5.7), and by mail if the employee requests it for a quit, layoff, or labor-dispute separation (§ 388-3(b)-(c)); the discharge subsection doesn't separately mention a mail option |
No automatic daily accrual. An employer who fails to pay wages under the chapter "without equitable justification" owes the unpaid wages plus 6% annual interest from the due date, plus a separate penalty of at least $500 or $100 per violation, whichever is greater, but that penalty is deposited into the state's labor law enforcement special fund, not paid to the employee (§ 388-10(a)). Willful nonpayment is also a class C felony carrying a fine of at least $500 per offense (§ 388-10(b)) |
An employee can sue directly in court, or ask the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations to take an assignment of the claim and pursue it, a route unavailable to bona fide executive, administrative, professional, or outside-sales employees, who must sue on their own, within one year of when the wages became due. A court must award 6% annual interest, costs, and reasonable attorney's fees on top of any judgment (§ 388-11(a)-(c)) |
If an employer's business is shut down by a writ of execution or attachment, or placed in receivership or an assignment for creditors, wage claims up to $600 per employee earned in the year before the shutdown get paid ahead of taxes and most other debts, provided the employee files a sworn wage statement within 20 days (execution/attachment) or 60 days (receivership/assignment) (§ 388-11(d)-(e)). No private agreement can waive or override the chapter's protections (§ 388-8). The chapter's own "employer" definition excludes the State and county governments (§ 388-1) |
| Idaho verified 2026-07-06 | Idaho Wage Claim Act, Idaho Code §§ 45-601 to 45-620; the separation deadline itself is set by § 45-606 |
The earlier of the next regularly scheduled payday or 10 days after the layoff or termination, weekends and holidays excluded; accelerated to 48 hours (also excluding weekends and holidays) if the employee makes a written request for earlier payment (§ 45-606(1)) |
Identical rule to a discharge or layoff: § 45-606(1) covers a termination of employment 'by either the employer or employee' in the same sentence, with no separate quit-specific deadline at all |
No independent statutory requirement: Idaho law doesn't require vacation pay at all, so whether it's owed depends entirely on the employer's own policy or contract. Once a policy promises earned vacation pay, it's collectible as part of a wage claim under the Act the same as any other unpaid wages |
Wages must be paid or made available at the employee's usual place of payment (§ 45-606(1)); lawful money or a bank check with suitable no-charge cashing arrangements, or voluntary direct deposit the employee can revoke at any time (§ 45-608(1)); a non-hourly, non-salaried employee must still receive at least minimum wage for the final pay period within the same § 45-606 deadline, with any additional true-up wages following on the next regular payday (§ 45-606(2)) |
Missing the § 45-606 deadline makes wages continue accruing at the same rate the employee was last paid, until paid in full or for 15 days, whichever is less, capped at $750 (or $500 if paid before a wage lien is filed) (§ 45-607); no penalty applies if the employee avoids or refuses payment that was made available. If the employer pays all undisputed wages within the § 45-606 deadline, no penalty may be assessed under the Act on the disputed balance unless it's later shown that balance was withheld willfully, arbitrarily, and without just cause (§ 45-611) |
File an administrative wage claim with the Idaho Department of Labor, or sue directly in court as an alternative: the department's own process is the exclusive remedy once chosen, foreclosing a later lawsuit over the same claim. A prevailing plaintiff in court recovers the unpaid wages plus either the § 45-607 penalty or 3 times the unpaid wages, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees and costs (§ 45-615). Retaliating against an employee for complaining, filing suit, or testifying about unpaid wages is separately barred (§ 45-613) |
The department's director may grant an employer a temporary extension of the § 45-606 deadlines on a showing of good and sufficient reason (§ 45-606(3)). A wage claim generally must be filed within 2 years of accrual, but a claim for additional wages after a partial payment has already been made for that pay period must be filed within 12 months (§ 45-614): this limitations period was extended by a 2019 amendment, so an older case describing a shorter window reflects the prior, superseded text, not current law. Knowingly filing a false wage claim is a misdemeanor and exposes the employee to the employer's attorney's fees (§ 45-612) |
| Illinois verified 2026-07-18 | Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, 820 ILCS 115/5 (final-compensation deadline and vacation payout); 115/14 (penalties); 115/11 (Dept. of Labor wage-claim process) |
Final compensation is due in full at the time of separation if possible, but in no case later than the next regularly scheduled payday for that employee (820 ILCS 115/5) |
Same deadline as a discharge — the statute uses the single term "separated employees" and draws no distinction between quitting and being fired (820 ILCS 115/5) |
If an employment contract or policy provides paid vacation, the monetary equivalent of all earned, unused vacation must be paid as part of final compensation at the employee's final rate of pay, and no contract or policy may provide for its forfeiture — unless a collective bargaining agreement provides otherwise (820 ILCS 115/5) |
Final compensation must be paid in lawful U.S. money — by check redeemable at a bank without discount, by deposit to an account the employee designates, or by a compliant payroll card; an employer can't designate one bank as the exclusive place of payment (820 ILCS 115/4). On the employee's written request, the final check must be mailed (820 ILCS 115/5) |
An underpaid employee recovers the unpaid amount plus damages of 5% of it for each month it remains unpaid, through a Department of Labor claim or a civil action (not both); a civil action also adds costs and attorney's fees (820 ILCS 115/14(a)). A willful, able-to-pay refusal to pay is a Class B misdemeanor (unpaid amount ≤$5,000) or Class A misdemeanor (>$5,000) on conviction, and a Class 4 felony for a repeat violation within 2 years (820 ILCS 115/14(a-5)) |
File a wage claim with the Illinois Department of Labor within one year of when the final compensation was due, or sue in circuit court — not both (820 ILCS 115/11, 115/14(a)). Corporate officers or agents who knowingly permit a violation are personally liable as the employer (820 ILCS 115/13). An employer that ignores a Department demand or order also owes a separate administrative fee, a 20% penalty to the Department, and a 1%-per-day penalty to the employee (820 ILCS 115/14(b)) |
A valid collective bargaining agreement can override both the vacation no-forfeiture rule and the ordinary pay-period timing rules the Act otherwise sets (820 ILCS 115/4, 115/5). The Act doesn't cover state or federal government employees, or individuals who meet its 3-part independent-contractor test (820 ILCS 115/1, 115/2) |
| Indiana verified 2026-07-06 | Indiana's wage-payment framework spans two chapters: the Wage Claims chapter, Ind. Code § 22-2-9 (separation-pay deadline, broad wages definition), and the Frequency of Wage Payments chapter, § 22-2-5 (voluntary-quit timing and the liquidated-damages remedy) |
"Whenever any employer separates any employee from the pay-roll, the unpaid wages or compensation of such employee shall become due and payable at regular pay day for pay period in which separation occurred": the ordinary next scheduled payday for that pay period, not an accelerated one (§ 22-2-9-2(a)); railroads are excepted from this specific provision |
Indiana doesn't give a quit a different deadline: § 22-2-9-2(a)'s "separates any employee" language covers a voluntary quit the same as a discharge, and § 22-2-5-1(b) confirms it for voluntary leaving specifically: the employer "shall not be required to pay the employee ... until the next usual and regular day for payment of wages." If the employee's whereabouts are unknown, the employer isn't even on the clock until 10 business days after the employee demands payment or supplies a forwarding address |
No statute directly addresses it, but the Indiana Supreme Court reads the Wage Payment Statute to cover vacation pay once promised: it is "deferred compensation in lieu of wages" once an employer agrees to provide it. The default favors the employee, a promised vacation right vests as the employee works and carries over, but an employer's own policy setting a use-by date or a condition on taking the vacation can validly cut that off; silence (no policy at all) means the accrued time is still owed |
Cash, a negotiable check, draft, money order, or electronic transfer to the employee's designated financial institution (§ 22-2-5-1(a)); any contract clause overriding this payment-method rule is void |
No automatic per-day accrual. A court must order a reasonable attorney's fee and court costs for any successful unpaid-wages suit, and, if the employer's failure to pay was NOT in good faith, the court "shall" additionally award liquidated damages equal to double (2x) the unpaid wages (§ 22-2-5-2). The same remedy applies to a wage claim the commissioner of labor or attorney general pursues on the employee's behalf (§ 22-2-9-4(b)) |
Two parallel routes: an employee can sue directly in court under § 22-2-5-2 for the unpaid wages, attorney's fees, costs, and (if bad faith is shown) double damages; or file a wage claim with the Indiana commissioner of labor, who investigates, can hold hearings, and, for claims under $6,000, can take an assignment of the claim and prosecute it directly, or refer any claim to the attorney general for a civil action (§§ 22-2-9-4, -5) |
Farmers, agricultural employers, and criminal offenders working in a correctional facility are specifically exempt from both the Frequency of Wage Payments chapter (§ 22-2-5-3) and the Wage Claims chapter (§ 22-2-9-8). Salaried employees who are eligible for overtime pay under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act are separately exempted from the semimonthly/biweekly payment-frequency requirement (§ 22-2-5-1.1). Railroads are excepted from the Wage Claims chapter's separation-deadline provision specifically (§ 22-2-9-2(a)) |
| Iowa verified 2026-07-06 | Iowa Code ch. 91A, the Iowa Wage Payment Collection Law: § 91A.4 sets the separation deadline, § 91A.3 sets the regular-payday and payment-method rules it incorporates, and §§ 91A.8-91A.12 set the remedies and enforcement |
No later than the next regular payday for the pay period in which the wages were earned (§ 91A.4): the same deadline applies whether the employer suspends, lays off, or terminates the employee; no accelerated same-day or fixed-day-count rule |
The identical next-regular-payday deadline as a discharge or layoff: § 91A.4 covers any "suspended or terminated" employment without distinguishing who ended it or why, a genuine one-rule-both-ways state |
No independent statutory entitlement: vacation, holiday, sick leave, and severance pay count as "wages" under the statute only when due under an agreement with the employer or under the employer's own policy (§ 91A.2(7)(b)); but where that policy accrues vacation pro rata, the statute itself requires the final increment to be proportional to the fraction of the year the employee actually worked (§ 91A.4) |
Paid in U.S. currency or a negotiable instrument cashable at full face value, at the employee's normal workplace during normal hours (or a place/time both agree on), by direct deposit the employee elects (or, for hires after July 1, 2005, can be required to use, with listed exceptions), or by mail if the employee makes a written request (§ 91A.3(2)-(4)) |
5% of the unpaid wages per day unpaid (excluding Sundays, legal holidays, and the first seven days after the regular payday), capped at the total unpaid-wages amount and not accruing during an employer bankruptcy (§ 91A.2(6)), but this liquidated-damages penalty, plus attorney's fees and court costs, is only owed if the employer's nonpayment was INTENTIONAL; if not shown to be intentional, the employer owes only the unpaid wages plus costs and usual attorney's fees (§ 91A.8). Separately, the state labor director can assess a civil money penalty of up to $500 per pay period per violation, paid to the state, not the employee (§ 91A.12(1)) |
An employee can file a written complaint assigning the wage claim to the state labor director within one year of when the wages became due; the director investigates for free and, absent settlement, sues on the employee's behalf, recovering attorney's fees for the state (§ 91A.10(1)-(2)). An employee who hasn't assigned the claim can instead sue directly under § 91A.8 for the same damages (§ 91A.10(3)). Retaliating against an employee for filing a complaint or assigning a claim is a separate violation, enforceable by the director with reinstatement and back pay (§ 91A.10(5)) |
Several agricultural workers are excluded from "employee" status entirely: an employer's spouse and resident relatives, an owner/tenant-operator and resident relatives exchanging labor, and neighboring farmers exchanging labor or services (§ 91A.2(3)(b)). If part of the final wages is the difference between a commission-basis "credit" already paid and the commission actually earned, the employer gets up to 30 days after the suspension or termination to pay that difference, instead of the next regular payday (§ 91A.4). A farm labor contractor's client (a seed/feed-grain producer using contracted detasseling, roguing, or hand-pollination labor) is jointly liable for that contractor's unpaid wages (§ 91A.3(7)). In a wage dispute, the employer must still pay the conceded amount without condition, and doing so doesn't waive the employee's claim to the rest (§ 91A.7) |
| Kansas verified 2026-07-06 | Kansas Wage Payment Act, K.S.A. 44-313 through 44-327; the separation deadline itself is set by K.S.A. 44-315(a) |
Next regular payday the employee would have been paid on had employment continued: no accelerated deadline for a discharge or layoff (K.S.A. 44-315(a)) |
Same next-regular-payday deadline as a discharge; Kansas draws no distinction based on who ended the employment or how much notice was given (K.S.A. 44-315(a)) |
No independent statutory payout requirement. Vacation pay counts as "wages" under K.S.A. 44-313(c) only when the employer's own policy or contract promises it, and it can still be forfeited if the policy makes payout conditional on something the employee didn't do (e.g. timely notice) before separation |
Cash, a negotiable check or draft, direct deposit/electronic transfer, or a payroll card (K.S.A. 44-314(b)); for the final paycheck specifically, the employer may mail it if the employee requests, and the mailing is timely if postmarked by the K.S.A. 44-315(a) deadline |
Only for a willful violation: a penalty of 1% of the unpaid wages for each day (excluding Sundays and legal holidays) the failure continues after the eighth day past the deadline, or 100% of the unpaid wages, whichever is less (K.S.A. 44-315(b)); no penalty applies to a good-faith, non-willful delay |
File a wage claim with the Kansas Department of Labor, which investigates and can order payment after an administrative hearing under the Kansas Administrative Procedure Act, reviewable under the Kansas Judicial Review Act (K.S.A. 44-322a); or sue directly in court (K.S.A. 44-324(a)). For a claim under $10,000 the secretary must take an assignment and pursue it at the employee's written request; for $10,000 or more the secretary may do so. Firing or retaliating against an employee for filing a wage claim is itself independently actionable under Kansas case law |
If the employer disputes only part of what's owed, it must still pay the conceded, undisputed amount by the next regular payday, without requiring a release, leaving the employee free to pursue the balance (K.S.A. 44-316); specific deductions from final wages are allowed only with written notice, for things like unreturned company property, loan repayment, overpayment recovery, or unpaid merchandise/uniform costs, and can't cut pay below minimum wage (K.S.A. 44-319(c), (e)); none of these rights can be waived by agreement (K.S.A. 44-321) |
| Kentucky verified 2026-07-06 | KRS 337.055 sets the deadline; § 337.990(3) sets the civil penalty; § 337.010(1)(c) defines "wages" to include vested vacation pay |
By the next normal pay period following discharge, or 14 days after discharge, whichever occurs LAST (not first) (§ 337.055) |
Identical deadline and test as a discharge: Kentucky's statute covers "any employee who leaves or is discharged" with no separate rule for a voluntary quit (§ 337.055) |
Required once vacation pay is VESTED: Kentucky's statutory "wages" definition expressly includes vested vacation pay, so it must be paid at separation the same as any other wage; whether vacation has actually vested still depends on the employer's own written policy or established practice (§ 337.010(1)(c)) |
No separation-specific delivery rule; the general wage-payment-method rule applies: legal tender, bank checks, direct deposit, or a payroll card account convertible to cash on demand at full face value, with no activation fee and at least one free full-balance withdrawal per pay period (§ 337.010(1)(c)) |
A civil penalty of $100-$1,000 per offense, with each missed payment a separate offense, PLUS the Cabinet orders the employer to make full payment to the employee (§ 337.990(3)); no automatic liquidated-damages multiplier |
Administrative complaint to the Education and Labor Cabinet's Division of Wages and Hours, which investigates and can impose the § 337.990(3) penalty and order payment; § 337.055 itself carries no separate private lawsuit right (federal courts applying Kentucky law so hold), since the chapter's private right of action and liquidated-damages remedy (§ 337.385) is expressly limited to minimum-wage/overtime violations under §§ 337.020-337.285, not § 337.055's separation-pay rule |
The statute bars an employer from securing exemption "by any means"; an employee who was absent or otherwise not paid at the normal time must still be paid at any time thereafter, or automatically once the employee makes a 14-day demand (§ 337.055) |
| Louisiana verified 2026-07-06 | La. R.S. 23:631 sets the deadline; § 23:632 sets the penalty and good-faith exception; § 23:634 bars wage-forfeiture contracts |
On or before the next regular payday, or no later than 15 days after discharge, whichever occurs first (§ 23:631(A)(1)(a)) |
Same 15-day/next-payday test as a discharge, pinned to the payday for the pay cycle the employee was working when they left (§ 23:631(A)(1)(b)); no separate, faster rule for giving notice |
Counts as wages due only if the employer's own vacation policy already made the employee eligible for accrued, unused vacation time; once earned, that vacation can never be forfeited by policy (§ 23:631(D)) |
Paid the way it was customarily paid during employment; may be mailed to the employee's address on file, with payment counted as made on the mailing date and a postmark proving timeliness (§ 23:631(A)(2)) |
Penalty wages equal to 90 days' pay at the employee's daily rate, or full wages from the date of a demand until payment, whichever is LESS: unless the employer's dispute over the amount was in good faith, which limits liability to the disputed wages plus judicial interest (§ 23:632(A)-(B)) |
Private civil lawsuit only, filed as a summary proceeding under Code of Civil Procedure art. 2592 (§ 23:631(B)); reasonable attorney's fees if a well-founded suit is filed more than 3 days after the employee's first demand (§ 23:632(C)); no state labor agency processes ordinary final-wage complaints |
Rail common carriers exclude legal holidays from the 15-day count (§ 23:631(C)); earned commissions, incentive pay, and bonuses count as due only if already earned under a written policy, with up to 120 days allowed to calculate a periodic bonus (§ 23:631(E)); profits interests in a partnership-taxed entity are excluded entirely (§ 23:631(F)); a contract can't force forfeiture of earned wages on separation, though a narrow carve-out lets an employer withhold pre-employment exam/drug-test costs from wages of an employee (paid at least $1 above federal minimum wage) who resigns within 90 working days of starting (§ 23:634) |
| Maine verified 2026-07-06 | Maine Revised Statutes Title 26, chapter 7, subchapter 2 (Wages and Medium of Payment); the separation deadline itself is 26 M.R.S. § 626 |
One deadline no matter why the job ended: full payment no later than the employee's next established payday (§ 626): Maine doesn't set a faster, discharge-specific deadline the way several other states do |
The identical next-established-payday rule as a discharge or layoff. Section 626 draws no distinction based on who initiated the separation or how much notice was given |
Layered rule. Once an employer's own policy or established practice provides paid vacation at all, unused vacation on separation has the same legal status as earned wages (§ 626). A 2022 amendment added a genuine no-forfeiture floor on top of that: all vacation accrued on or after January 1, 2023 under the employer's own policy must actually be paid out at separation, but only for employers with more than 10 employees; businesses with 10 or fewer employees and public employers are exempt from that mandatory-payout floor (vacation pay still counts as wages for them if their own policy already provides it, just without the forced payout). A collective bargaining agreement that addresses vacation payout on separation overrides this paragraph entirely |
The statute doesn't specify a required delivery method or a mail-on-request option the way some states' final-pay laws do; it only requires payment "in full" by the deadline. Separately, an employer generally may not charge a fee for paying wages by direct deposit (§ 621-A(7)) |
Not gated by willfulness or a prior demand: any violation makes the employer liable for the unpaid wages (and any required vacation pay) plus a reasonable rate of interest, plus a mandatory additional amount equal to twice the unpaid wages as liquidated damages, plus the employee's costs and reasonable attorney's fees (§ 626-A): one of the more automatically generous liquidated-damages formulas in this survey. A separate $100-$500 civil fine per violation is also available under the same section |
The employee can sue directly, or the Department of Labor can sue on the employee's behalf and supervise collection of any judgment (§§ 626, 626-A). A lawsuit isn't immediately ripe, though: if the wages are clearly and undisputedly due, remedies become available 8 days after the due date; if there's a genuine good-faith dispute over the amount, remedies become available 8 days after the employee makes a demand (§ 626-A) |
Selling a business doesn't erase the deadline: within 2 weeks after a business sale, the seller must pay out all wages (and any required vacation payout) earned while the employees worked for the seller, unless the seller has a specific written agreement shifting that duty to the buyer (§ 626). An employer may withhold a prior overcompensation error from a final paycheck under a separate overcompensation-recovery statute (§ 635), and may deduct a written, employee-authorized loan or wage advance |
| Maryland verified 2026-07-06 | Maryland's Wage Payment and Collection Law, Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. §§ 3-501 through 3-509: § 3-505 sets the termination-pay deadline and the accrued-leave rule, § 3-507.2 sets the treble-damages civil remedy |
"Each employer shall pay an employee or the authorized representative of an employee all wages due for work that the employee performed before the termination of employment, on or before the day on which the employee would have been paid the wages if the employment had not been terminated": the ordinary next regular payday, no acceleration (§ 3-505(a)) |
The identical rule covers a quit: § 3-505(a) draws no distinction based on how the employment ended. Both a discharge and a resignation are paid on the next regular payday the employee would otherwise have received |
No independent floor requiring an employer to offer vacation. Since a 2008 amendment, an employer can lawfully withhold payment for accrued, unused leave at termination only if it (1) has a written policy limiting that compensation, (2) gave the employee written notice of its leave benefits at the time of hiring, and (3) the employee isn't entitled to the payout under that policy's own terms (§ 3-505(b)): miss any one of the three and the leave is still owed. The 2008 amendment was enacted specifically to overrule Catapult Technology, Ltd. v. Wolfe (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 2007), which had read accrued leave as owed regardless of policy |
Wages must be paid in U.S. currency, or by a check convertible to cash on demand, or by direct deposit or a disclosed-fee debit card the employee has authorized (§ 3-502(c), (e)). At hiring, the employer must give written notice of the pay rate, paydays, and leave benefits, and must provide a wage statement each pay period (§ 3-504) |
No automatic per-day accrual. If the employer still hasn't paid two weeks after the wages were due, the employee may sue, and a court that finds the employer withheld the wage other than as the result of a bona fide dispute may award up to three times (treble) the unpaid wage, plus reasonable attorney's fees and costs (§ 3-507.2(a)-(b)). The employer bears the burden of proving a bona fide dispute existed, and even without one a court isn't required to award the full treble amount |
An employee can sue directly in Maryland district or circuit court for the treble-damages remedy under § 3-507.2, file a wage complaint with the Department of Labor's Division of Labor and Industry, or, for a claim not based on unpaid commissions, record a lien against the employer's real or personal property under Maryland's separate wage-lien law (Lab. & Empl. Title 3, Subtitle 11) without filing suit first. A civil action generally must be filed within three years (Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101) |
On a construction-services project, a general contractor is jointly and severally liable for a subcontractor's wage-payment violation regardless of privity, though the subcontractor generally must indemnify the general contractor (§ 3-507.2(c)). Administrative, executive, or professional employees can be paid less often than the ordinary at-least-twice-a-month minimum (§ 3-502(a)(2)). The law doesn't reach independent contractors or government employees |
| Massachusetts verified 2026-07-06 | Massachusetts's Wage Act, G.L. c. 149, § 148 (payment deadlines and method), § 150 (private civil enforcement), and § 27C (criminal and civil penalties) |
"Any employee discharged from such employment shall be paid in full on the day of his discharge" — same-day payment (§ 148). Boston has a narrow carve-out: payment as soon as the city's payroll-certification laws have been complied with |
"Any employee leaving his employment shall be paid in full on the following regular pay day, and, in the absence of a regular pay day, on the following Saturday" — the ordinary next-payday rule, with no notice-contingent split (§ 148) |
No independent statute requires an employer to offer vacation, but the Wage Act's "wages" definition sweeps in vacation pay once it's promised: "the word ''wages'' shall include any holiday or vacation payments due an employee under an oral or written agreement" (§ 148). Once vacation pay is due under an agreement, it's enforced with the same mandatory treble-damages remedy as any other unpaid wage, not left to ordinary contract law |
The employer must furnish a suitable pay slip, check stub, or envelope with each payment showing the employer's and employee's names, the pay-period date, hours worked, hourly rate, and deductions; a check or draft must be cashable at a bank or elsewhere without any charge to the employee (§ 148) |
No automatic per-day accrual, but a private civil action carries mandatory treble damages: a prevailing employee "shall be awarded treble damages, as liquidated damages, for any lost wages and other benefits" plus litigation costs and attorney's fees (§ 150). Separately, the attorney general can prosecute criminally — up to $25,000 or 1 year (willful, first offense) or $10,000 or 6 months (non-willful, first offense) — or issue a civil citation of up to $25,000 per violation (§ 27C) |
An employee (or the attorney general) files a complaint with the attorney general. The employee may then bring a private civil action — individually or for similarly situated employees — 90 days after filing (sooner with the attorney general's written consent) and within 3 years of the violation, for injunctive relief, lost wages, and other damages; treble damages, costs, and attorney's fees are mandatory for a prevailing employee (§ 150). The attorney general can separately prosecute criminally or issue a civil citation or order (§ 27C) |
Boston discharge payments may wait until the city's own payroll-certification laws are satisfied. Executive, administrative, or professional employees, and other salaried employees, may be paid bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or (at their own election) monthly instead of weekly; agricultural workers may be paid monthly; railroad and parlor-car employees may be paid less frequently with state approval. An employee absent from the workplace at the time set for payment is paid on demand once available. Certain hospital, charitable-institution, and cooperative-association employees, and government casual employees, are exempted from § 148 unless they request otherwise. Commissions are covered once "definitely determined and ... due and payable" |
| Michigan verified 2026-07-06 | Michigan's Payment of Wages and Fringe Benefits Act, MCL 408.471 et seq. (Act 390 of 1978); § 408.475 (final-pay timing), § 408.474 (fringe-benefit withholding consent), §§ 408.485, 408.488 (penalties) |
An employer "shall immediately pay" all wages earned and due, as soon as the amount can with due diligence be determined — no fixed number of days, but "immediately" once the amount is knowable (§ 408.475(2)) |
All wages earned and due must be paid as soon as the amount can with due diligence be determined — the same due-diligence standard as a discharge, but without the added "immediately" language (§ 408.475(1)). A narrow exception: an employee engaged in hand harvesting of crops must be paid within 3 days of a voluntary quit regardless of how quickly the amount could otherwise be determined |
Michigan doesn't independently require an employer to offer vacation. But an employer can't withhold a fringe benefit (including vacation pay) that's due at termination under a written contract or policy, unless the employee freely agreed in writing to the withholding — obtained without intimidation or fear of being fired for refusing to agree (§ 408.474) |
Wages may be paid in U.S. currency, by negotiable check or draft cashable without discount, by direct deposit, or by a compliant payroll debit card; an employer generally needs the employee's full, free, written consent to use direct deposit or a payroll card (with a narrower opt-out procedure allowed under specific disclosure conditions), and can't charge the employee for the cost of setting up either method (§ 408.476) |
The Department must order payment of the wages and fringe benefits due, plus a penalty of 10% per year on that amount running from when the employer is notified of the complaint until payment is made; for a flagrant or repeated violation, the Department may also order exemplary damages up to double the amount due, plus attorney, hearing, and transcript costs, and may separately assess a civil penalty of up to $1,000 to the state (§ 408.488). An employer who fails to pay with intent to defraud is additionally guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine, up to 1 year in jail, or both (§ 408.485) |
An employee files a written complaint with the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity within 12 months of the violation; the Department investigates, attempts informal resolution, and issues a determination within 90 days; either side can request review within 14 days, a hearings officer's ruling becomes the final agency order, and either party can then seek judicial review (§ 408.481). This is primarily an administrative process rather than a direct private lawsuit — enforcement of a final agency order itself is brought by the Director of Labor (§ 408.489) |
An employee engaged in hand harvesting of crops who voluntarily quits must be paid within 3 days, a fixed exception to the general due-diligence standard. For an employee working under a contract where the amount due can't be determined until the contract ends, the employer pays estimated wages along the way and makes final payment in full only when the contract terminates (§ 408.475(3)) |
| Minnesota verified 2026-07-06 | Minnesota's wage-payment law, Minn. Stat. ch. 181: § 181.13 sets the discharge deadline and penalty, § 181.14 sets the quit/resignation deadline and penalty, § 181.171 sets the private civil action and mandatory attorney's fees, and § 177.27 gives the Department of Labor and Industry its administrative enforcement authority |
Wages earned and unpaid at discharge are "immediately due and payable upon demand of the employee": the clock only starts once the employee makes a written demand, and the employer is "in default" if it doesn't pay within 24 hours after that demand (§ 181.13(a)). For a public employer whose expenditures need governing-board approval, the 24 hours doesn't start until the board's first regular or special meeting after the discharge |
Full payment is due no later than the first regularly scheduled payday after the employee's last day worked. If that first payday falls less than 5 calendar days after the last day worked, the employer can wait until the second payday instead, but never longer than 20 calendar days total after the last day worked (§ 181.14, subd. 1(a)). A collective bargaining agreement can set a different rule. Migrant/seasonal agricultural workers (as defined in § 181.85) get a faster, flat 3-day deadline instead (§ 181.14, subd. 1(b)) |
No independent statutory floor. The Minnesota Supreme Court has held that § 181.13(a) is purely a timing statute, it says WHEN earned wages must be paid, but doesn't itself create a right to vacation/PTO payout. Whether unused vacation is owed at all, and under what conditions (use-it-or-lose-it, forfeiture on a for-cause discharge, notice requirements), is governed entirely by the employer's own contract or handbook, even a handbook with a general "this is not a contract" disclaimer can still create an enforceable PTO-payout obligation (Lee v. Fresenius Medical Care, Inc., 741 N.W.2d 117 (Minn. 2007)). Employers must at least disclose their PTO accrual and use terms to a new hire in writing (§ 181.032(d)(3)) |
Wages must be paid "in the usual manner of payment", however the employer ordinarily pays its workforce, unless the employee specifically asks for payment by mail, in which case payment counts as made on the postmark date (§ 181.13(b); the identical rule applies to a quit under § 181.14, subd. 5). The demand that starts the discharge clock must be in writing, but doesn't need to state an exact dollar amount (§ 181.13(a)) |
A daily continuing-wage penalty, not a lump sum: once the employer is in default (24 hours after a proper written demand), it owes a penalty equal to the employee's average daily earnings at the employee's regular rate of pay (or the legally required rate, whichever is higher), for every day of default, up to a maximum of 15 days, on top of the unpaid wages themselves: the identical formula applies to both a discharge (§ 181.13(a)) and a quit (§ 181.14, subd. 2). An employer that disputes the amount and makes a good-faith legal tender of what it believes is owed isn't liable for more than the tendered amount plus interest, unless the employee later proves a larger amount was actually due (§ 181.14, subd. 3) |
An employee can sue directly in district court under § 181.171, and a court that finds a violation MUST order the employer to pay the employee's reasonable costs, disbursements, witness fees, and attorney fees: fee-shifting isn't discretionary. Separately, the Department of Labor and Industry can investigate under § 177.27, issue a compliance order, and require the employer to pay back wages plus an equal additional amount as liquidated damages, with civil penalties up to $10,000 per violation for repeated or willful conduct. Claims generally must be filed within 2 years, extended to 3 years if the nonpayment was willful or the employer failed to produce payroll records DLI requested (§ 541.07(5)) |
An employer that entrusted an employee with money or property gets an extra 10 calendar days after termination to audit and adjust those accounts before the payment-and-penalty clock starts, though any actual deduction for lost or stolen property still has to follow the separate wage-deduction statute's written-authorization and garnishment-limit rules (§ 181.14, subd. 4; § 181.79). An employer can't restructure how or when it pays commissions specifically to delay or shrink a departing employee's commission payout (§ 181.03, subd. 2). No industry- or employer-size threshold exempts anyone from §§ 181.13/181.14: the law covers any employer with even one Minnesota employee |
| Mississippi verified 2026-07-06 | No Mississippi statute addresses final-paycheck timing at all. Miss. Code § 71-1-35 sets a general twice-monthly pay-frequency rule, but only for manufacturing employers with 50 or more employees and public service corporations: not a termination-specific deadline, and not universal to all employers |
No state deadline. Mississippi has no statute requiring accelerated or same-day payment on a discharge or layoff; where § 71-1-35's narrow twice-monthly rule applies at all, the employer simply keeps following its regular pay schedule; the FLSA's next-payday floor is otherwise the only backstop |
No state deadline: treated identically to a discharge because neither is addressed by any Mississippi statute; the employer's regular pay schedule (where § 71-1-35 applies) keeps controlling |
No statute addresses vacation or PTO payout anywhere in Title 71's employer-employee chapter; whether accrued vacation is paid out at separation depends entirely on the employer's own written policy or contract |
For the narrow class of employers § 71-1-35 covers, payment must be made twice a month (or on the second and fourth Saturday) and must include amounts earned up to 10 days before payment (15 days for public service corporations); a historical trade-check/coupon rule limited to manufacturing and railroad employers requires any such instrument to be cashable at face value on or after the regular payday (§ 71-1-39) |
No general penalty exists for a late or unpaid final paycheck. A catch-all misdemeanor fine ($25-$250 per day of violation, § 71-1-53) applies only to a violation of a chapter provision that has no penalty of its own: reaching a § 71-1-35 payday-frequency violation for a covered employer, not an ordinary discharge or quit, which this chapter doesn't address; a separate 25% damages remedy exists only for an unpaid manufacturing trade-check claim of $100 or less (§ 71-1-39) |
No state wage-claim agency or administrative hearing process exists for an ordinary unpaid-final-wages dispute; an employee's recourse is a private lawsuit for the unpaid wages (breach of contract or a general wage claim), or a federal Fair Labor Standards Act claim if the underlying shortfall involves minimum wage or overtime rather than a promised, undisputed wage amount |
Section 71-1-35's twice-monthly rule reaches only manufacturing employers with 50 or more employees and public service corporations, and even then excludes any employee working in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity: most Mississippi employers have no state-mandated pay-frequency rule of any kind, let alone a termination-specific one; the historical trade-check/coupon provisions (§§ 71-1-37, 71-1-39) are a narrow, largely obsolete carve-out from the manufacturing/railroad company-store era; a separate statute (§ 71-1-45) requires written notice and the employer's acceptance before any wage assignment or pledge tied to a purchase can be enforced against the employer, unrelated to termination timing |
| Missouri verified 2026-07-06 | Missouri's discharge wage statute, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.110, sets the deadline and penalty for a discharge or layoff. Missouri has no counterpart statute addressing a voluntary quit |
"Whenever any person, firm or corporation doing business in this state shall discharge, with or without cause, or refuse to further employ any servant or employee thereof, the unpaid wages of the servant or employee then earned at the contract rate, without abatement or deduction, shall be and become due and payable on the day of the discharge or refusal to longer employ": same-day payment (§ 290.110) |
No Missouri statute addresses this at all: confirmed directly by the state's own Department of Labor: "There are no requirements under Missouri law that address when wages are due when an employee quits a job." Practice generally expects payment by the next regular payday, but that's custom, not a legal deadline, and none of § 290.110's penalty machinery applies to a quit |
No statute requires payout of unused vacation, holiday, or severance pay; these are discretionary unless an employer's own policy or contract promises them. Even then, Missouri courts have held that vacation pay is NOT "wages" within the meaning of § 290.110 (Monterosso v. St. Louis Globe-Democrat Publishing Co., 368 S.W.2d 481, 489 (Mo. 1963); Doores v. Intercontinental Eng'g-Mfg. Corp., 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 3648), so the discharge statute's payment deadline and penalty don't reach a shorted, policy-promised vacation payout; recovering it takes an ordinary contract claim instead |
A discharged employee may request in writing that the wages, or a valid check, be sent to any station or office where the employer keeps a regular agent; the money or check must then reach that location within seven days of the request (§ 290.110) |
If the wages (or a valid check) don't reach the requested station or office within seven days of a written request, the wages continue accruing at the same rate as a self-executing penalty from the date of discharge until paid, capped at 60 days (§ 290.110). This penalty exists only for a discharge: there is no equivalent for an unpaid check after a voluntary quit |
Missouri's Division of Labor Standards investigates wage complaints but has no legal authority to compel an employer to pay; the state directs employees to court instead: small claims court for amounts under $5,000, or a private civil action in circuit court above that. An employee under a definite-term employment contract who is discharged without cause can also join a wrongful-discharge damages claim with the wage-and-penalty action (§ 290.130) |
§ 290.110's deadline and penalty don't apply to an employee whose pay is based mainly on commission where the job involves collecting accounts or handling stock or merchandise and an audit is necessary or customary to determine what's owed. More fundamentally, because § 290.110 only covers a "discharge ... or refusal to further employ," its entire deadline-and-penalty scheme simply doesn't reach a voluntary quit |
| Montana verified 2026-07-06 | Montana Wage Payment Act, Mont. Code Ann. §§ 39-3-201 to -216 (Title 39, chapter 3, part 2); the separation deadline itself is § 39-3-205 |
Immediate upon separation by default when an employee is separated for cause or laid off by the employer (§ 39-3-205(2)), but an employer can push this back to the same next-payday-or-15-days deadline as a quit, if it has a WRITTEN personnel policy saying so in place before the separation. A separate exception lets an employer withhold a disputed amount when the discharge is for alleged theft connected to the job (§ 39-3-205(3)) |
The next regular payday for the pay period during which the employee separated, or 15 days from the date of separation, whichever occurs first (§ 39-3-205(1)): no notice-contingent acceleration the way some other states use |
No independent statute requires a vacation policy in the first place, and none sets a payout floor by name. But once an employer chooses to offer paid vacation, the Montana Supreme Court holds that vacation pay is "earned by virtue of an employee's labor," and once it has accrued under the employer's own policy, the employer "may not then impose conditions subsequent which would, if unmet, effectively divest an employee of that accrued vacation" (Langager v. Crazy Creek Products, Inc., 287 Mont. 445 (1998), applying the "wages" definition in § 39-3-201(6)). An employer can still restrict how vacation accrues in the first place (a waiting period, an accrual cap): it just can't claw back time already earned with a forfeiture condition |
Through the regular pay channels, or by mail if the employee requests it (§ 39-3-205(1)). Generally, wages must be paid in lawful U.S. money or a bank check convertible to cash on demand, or by electronic funds transfer/direct deposit only if the employee has separately consented in writing or electronically: an employee can never be required to accept direct deposit as a condition of pay (§ 39-3-204) |
A violation is a misdemeanor, and the employer must also pay the employee a penalty of up to 110% of the wages due and unpaid: a cap the Department of Labor and Industry assesses, not an automatic flat amount (§ 39-3-206). Any contract that tries to evade this part of the law is void, and the employee can sue for the wages plus the penalty, or for the penalty alone if the wages were already paid late (§ 39-3-208) |
The employee can sue directly in court, or file an administrative wage claim with Montana's Department of Labor and Industry within 180 days of the missed payment; the Department investigates, mediates, and can hold a contested-case hearing, with either side able to seek judicial review within 30 days of a final decision (§§ 39-3-207, 39-3-210, 39-3-216). Recoverable back wages generally reach back 2 years from the claim date or the employee's last day of work: 3 years if the employer has engaged in repeated violations (§ 39-3-207(2)-(3)) |
A genuine theft-allegation carve-out: if an employee is discharged over an alleged theft of the employer's property or funds connected to the job, the employer may withhold enough of the final paycheck to cover the loss if the employee agrees in writing, or if the employer reports the theft to local law enforcement within 7 business days, the withheld wages become due after 30 days if no charges are ever filed, and a court can order an offset (or repayment plus interest if the employee is acquitted or the employer withheld more than the theft's value) (§ 39-3-205(3)). Separately, courts distinguish a permissible "condition precedent" that limits how vacation accrues in the first place from an impermissible "condition subsequent" that claws back vacation already earned (Langager, 1998), see the vacation-payout dimension above |
| Nebraska verified 2026-07-06 | Nebraska Wage Payment and Collection Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 48-1229 to 48-1234; the separation deadline itself is set by § 48-1230(4) |
Next regular payday or within two weeks of the date of separation, whichever is sooner: the same rule applies regardless of whether the employer initiated the separation (§ 48-1230(4)(a)) |
Identical rule to a discharge: next regular payday or within two weeks of separation, whichever is sooner. The statute doesn't distinguish who ended the employment relationship at all (§ 48-1230(4)(a)) |
Yes, but only for genuine vacation leave that's already been earned under the employer's own stipulated conditions: Nebraska's wage definition includes fringe benefits like vacation leave once previously agreed to and any earning conditions have been met (§ 48-1229(6)). Ordinary sick leave or other paid leave is NOT included in wages due at separation unless the employer specifically agreed otherwise |
No specific method is mandated beyond lawful deductions/withholdings requiring legal authorization or written agreement (§ 48-1230(1)); a payroll debit card is allowed only if the employee gets at least one fee-free withdrawal per pay period (§ 48-1230(3)); a written or electronic wage statement is required each regular payday (§ 48-1230(2)) |
No automatic per-day penalty. Instead, an employee who sues over wages unpaid more than 30 days past the regular payday and wins is entitled to the full judgment plus mandatory attorney's fees and costs (§ 48-1231(1)); separately, the Department of Labor's Commissioner can issue an administrative citation with a penalty up to $500 for a first violation or up to $5,000 for a repeat violation (§ 48-1234) |
File a private lawsuit once wages remain unpaid 30 days past the regular payday, with mandatory attorney's fees and costs if the employee wins (a losing employer that never made a reasonable tender can also be ordered to pay the employee's fees if it had no reasonable dispute) (§ 48-1231(1)); or the Nebraska Department of Labor can investigate and issue its own administrative citation and penalty, contestable within 15 working days, with an unpaid citation barring the employer from state or local government contracts (§ 48-1234) |
Commissions get their own separate rule: they become due on the next regular payday after the employer actually receives payment from the customer for the underlying sale, not on the ordinary separation timeline at all (§ 48-1230.01). A separating employee of a political subdivision (a public-sector carve-out inside this same private-sector statute) instead gets paid within two weeks of the governing body's next scheduled meeting (§ 48-1230(4)(b)), outside this survey's private-employer scope. Failing to provide the required wage statement is a separate infraction with its own fine (§ 48-1231(3)) |
| Nevada verified 2026-07-06 | NRS 608.020 sets the discharge/layoff deadline; NRS 608.030 sets the resignation deadline; NRS 608.040 sets the automatic penalty; NRS 608.135 and 607.160-607.170 set the civil-action and Labor Commissioner enforcement routes |
Immediate: unpaid wages become due and payable the moment the employer discharges the employee or places the employee on "nonworking status" (a temporary layoff where the employee remains employed and may be recalled), per NRS 608.020(1)-(2); a 3-day grace period before the automatic penalty starts running is a separate, later trigger (see Penalty) |
Whichever is EARLIER of: the day the employee would have regularly been paid, or seven days after resigning or quitting (NRS 608.030): a fixed outer cap that can be shorter than the next regular payday |
No statutory requirement: the chapter's "wages" definition (NRS 608.012) covers only time-based pay, commissions, and amounts due a discharged/laid-off/resigning employee, with no mention of vacation, PTO, or any other fringe benefit, so payout depends entirely on the employer's own policy or contract |
General wage payments must be in U.S. currency, by direct deposit, or by a good and valuable negotiable check convertible to cash on demand (NRS 608.120, 608.130); the statute doesn't add a separate delivery method specifically for a discharge, layoff, or quit beyond making the wages "due and payable" by the applicable deadline |
The employee's wages continue at the same rate they were earning, from the day of the discharge, layoff, or resignation, until paid or for 30 days, whichever is less, if the employer fails to pay within 3 days after a discharge or nonworking-status wages become due, or by the due date itself for a resignation (NRS 608.040(1)); an employee who hides or refuses a fully tendered payment to avoid collection isn't entitled to the penalty for that period (NRS 608.040(2)). A near-identical, older continuing-wages penalty plus a statutory employee's lien on the employer's property also exists under NRS 608.050 |
An employee can sue directly in civil court within 2 years of the employer's failure to pay (NRS 608.135(1)), recovering a reasonable attorney's fee if a written demand was made at least 5 days before suit and the amount recovered doesn't exceed what was demanded (NRS 608.140); alternatively, the state Labor Commissioner can prosecute a claim for free for an employee unable to afford counsel, impose administrative penalties after notice and a hearing, and pursue the claim in court, but not while a private civil action for the same wages is pending (NRS 608.135(2), 607.160, 607.170) |
"Nonworking status" under the fast immediate-payment rule specifically means a temporary layoff where the employee remains employed and may be called back: it does NOT include an employee placed on investigatory or disciplinary suspension, put on-call for available work, or granted a leave of absence, none of which trigger NRS 608.020's immediate-payment rule (NRS 608.020(3)); an employee's own lien rights under NRS 608.050 run alongside, not instead of, the NRS 608.040 penalty |
| New Hampshire verified 2026-07-06 | New Hampshire RSA ch. 275, Protective Legislation (the Payment of Wages subdivision, §§ 275:42-275:56); the separation deadline itself is § 275:44 |
Discharge: wages in full within 72 hours (§ 275:44 I). A labor-dispute work stoppage or an ordinary layoff instead gets a slower, separate deadline: the next regular payday (§ 275:44 III): New Hampshire, like Hawaii, treats an outright discharge and a mere layoff differently rather than lumping them together |
Next regular payday by default (§ 275:44 II). But if the employee gives the employer at least one full pay period's notice of intent to quit, the employer must pay all wages earned within 72 hours: a fixed 72-hour window, not immediate payment at the moment of quitting |
Yes, but only once the employer's own practice or policy already provides it. New Hampshire's wage law expressly makes vacation pay, severance pay, personal days, holiday pay, sick pay, and reimbursable employee expenses "wages" whenever they're "a matter of employment practice or policy" (§ 275:43 V): once that policy exists, payout is legally enforceable as wages, not just a matter of private contract. There's no payout at all if the employer never had a paid-time-off policy to begin with. A 2025 bill (HB 378) that would have added an independent payout mandate for a narrower set of involuntary separations was voted "inexpedient to legislate" and died |
In lawful U.S. money, electronic funds transfer, authorized direct deposit, a compliant payroll card, or a check cashable at a nearby financial institution (§ 275:43 I). For a quit, layoff, or labor-dispute separation, payment can go through the regular pay channels or by mail if the employee asks (§ 275:44 II-III); the 72-hour discharge rule doesn't separately mention a mail option |
If an employer willfully and without good cause misses a § 275:44 deadline, it owes liquidated damages of 10% of the unpaid wages for each day the failure continues (excluding Sundays and legal holidays), or an amount equal to the unpaid wages themselves, whichever is smaller: effectively capping the penalty at doubling the unpaid amount. That daily accrual stops running if the employer later files a bankruptcy petition (§ 275:44 IV) |
An employee can sue directly in court, or file a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner within 36 months of when the wages were due; the commissioner investigates, can order payment after a hearing, and an unappealed final order becomes enforceable as a court judgment and a 3-year lien on the employer's property (§ 275:51 V). Either route, a court may award costs and reasonable attorney's fees on top of the wages and liquidated damages (§ 275:53). A willful violation of § 275:44 is also a separate misdemeanor (§ 275:52) |
A salaried employee's final pay can be prorated to a daily rate, instead of paid the full salary for the pay period, if the employee resigns before the end of a pay period or is terminated for cause; ordinarily a salaried employee who performs any work in a pay period is owed the full salary for it regardless of days or hours worked (§ 275:43-b I-II). Health-and-welfare or pension-fund contributions tied to a bargaining agreement must reach the plan administrator by the next scheduled contribution date, a separate clock from the wage deadline itself (§ 275:44 V). No private agreement can waive any of these protections (§ 275:50) |
| New Jersey verified 2026-07-06 | New Jersey's Wage Payment Law, N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.1 to -4.15 (P.L.1965, c.173, as amended); § 34:11-4.3 sets the separation-pay deadline, § 34:11-4.10 (rewritten by the 2019 Wage Theft Act, P.L.2019, c.212) sets the penalties |
All wages due must be paid no later than the regular payday for the pay period during which the discharge, layoff, or other termination took place — the same single rule applies to every way employment can end (§ 34:11-4.3) |
Identical rule to a discharge: all wages due no later than the regular payday for the pay period during which the employee quit, resigned, or otherwise left. New Jersey draws no distinction based on how much notice the employee gave (§ 34:11-4.3) |
The Wage Payment Law defines "wages" as direct monetary compensation for labor or services rendered, measured on a time, task, piece, or commission basis (§ 34:11-4.1(c)) — a definition that doesn't reach vacation or PTO pay. New Jersey has no independent statute requiring an employer to offer or pay out unused vacation at separation; it's owed only if the employer's own written policy, employment contract, or collective bargaining agreement promises it, and ordinary contract law (not the Wage Payment Law itself) enforces that promise |
Wages must be paid at least twice a month on regular paydays set in advance (monthly is allowed for bona fide executive, supervisory, and similar special employees), in U.S. currency or by check that can be cashed without difficulty or fee for its full face amount (§ 34:11-4.2). An employer may instead pay by direct deposit, but only with the employee's consent, and any employee can opt back out on timely notice (§ 34:11-4.2a) |
No automatic daily-accrual penalty like California's. An employer who knowingly fails to pay full wages owes the unpaid wages plus liquidated damages of up to 200% of the amount due, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees (§ 34:11-4.10(c)) — waived for a good-faith first violation if the employer acknowledges the violation and pays within 30 days of notice. Knowing nonpayment is also a disorderly persons offense: a fine of $500-$1,000 for a first conviction or $1,000-$2,000 for a repeat one (each week of continued violation is a separate offense), and the Commissioner can separately assess a $250-$500 administrative penalty (§ 34:11-4.10(a)-(b)) |
An employee may sue in Superior Court for the unpaid wages, liquidated damages, costs, and attorney's fees, and may bring the action on behalf of other similarly situated employees. Alternatively, the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development can take an assignment of the wage claim and pursue it, or supervise a payment arrangement with the employer (§ 34:11-4.10(c)). Retaliating against an employee for asserting these rights triggers its own reinstatement, back-pay, and liquidated-damages remedies, plus criminal penalties (§ 34:11-4.10(a)) |
A labor dispute that suspends the employees who process payroll gives the employer up to 10 additional days beyond the regular payday to pay wages owed at separation. An employee paid in whole or part on an incentive system needs to receive only a reasonable approximation of the wages due until the exact amount can be computed (§ 34:11-4.3) |
| New Mexico verified 2026-07-06 | New Mexico Wage Payment Act, NMSA 1978 §§ 50-4-1 to 50-4-12; the separation deadlines themselves are set by § 50-4-4 (discharge) and § 50-4-5 (quit) |
Two-tier rule: a fixed, definite amount (not task, piece, or commission-based) becomes due immediately on the employee's demand and must be paid within 5 days of discharge; any other kind of discharge pay must be settled and paid within 10 days (§ 50-4-4(A)-(B)) |
Due at the next regular payday, no fixed number of days, unless the employer chooses to pay immediately at the time of quitting, which the statute allows but doesn't require (§ 50-4-5). This rule doesn't apply to an employee who quits before the end of a written contract for a definite period |
No statute independently requires a vacation payout. Once an employer's own policy has made vacation pay a fixed, already-earned amount, New Mexico treats it the same as any other wages owed at separation: covered by the same deadlines and, for a discharge, the same continuing-wages penalty |
Cash, or a check, payroll voucher, or bank draft convertible to cash on demand at full face value, or (only with the voluntary written authorization of the employer, employee, and financial institution) direct deposit; the employer must give the employee a written, itemized statement of gross pay, hours worked, and deductions (§ 50-4-2(B)) |
Only for a missed DISCHARGE deadline: unpaid wages continue accruing at the same daily rate the employee earned at discharge, from the discharge date until paid, capped at 60 days after discharge, but only if the employee made a timely demand for payment and it was refused (§ 50-4-4(C)). No equivalent continuing-wages penalty exists for a missed quit deadline. Separately, any violation of the Act (discharge or quit alike) is a misdemeanor, with an escalating fine of $250-$1,000 per offense for a repeat violation (§ 50-4-10) |
The employee can bring a civil action directly to recover unpaid wages (and, for a discharge, the continuing-wages penalty). Separately, the director of the Workforce Solutions Department's labor relations division can investigate a claim and, if satisfied it's valid and enforceable, take an assignment of it and prosecute it in court at no cost to the employee (§§ 50-4-8, 50-4-9, 50-4-11, 50-4-12), but this administrative process only lets the division sue on the employee's behalf, not issue its own binding wage order |
If only part of what's owed is disputed, the employer must give written notice of the conceded amount and pay it without conditions within the statutory deadline; accepting that payment doesn't release the employee's claim to the rest (§ 50-4-7). A work stoppage from an industrial dispute has its own rule: wages already earned become due at the next regular payday, not on an accelerated discharge-style schedule (§ 50-4-6). The Act doesn't reach an employee who agreed at hiring to take an ownership-style interest in the business's success instead of ordinary wages (§ 50-4-3) |
| New York verified 2026-07-06 | N.Y. Lab. Law § 191(3) (deadline); § 198-c (vacation/wage-supplement payout); § 198(1-a), (3), (4) (penalties, statute of limitations, post-judgment increase) |
Due no later than the regular payday for the pay period in which the termination occurred (§ 191(3)) |
Same deadline as a discharge — the regular payday for the pay period in which the termination occurred; the statute draws no distinction between quitting and being discharged (§ 191(3)) |
If the employer agreed to provide vacation, separation, or holiday pay, it must be paid within 30 days after it becomes due; failing to do so is a misdemeanor. The requirement doesn't apply to a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional employee earning over $1,300/week (§ 198-c) |
Wages must be paid in cash or by an instrument negotiable at full value, unless the employee has given advance written consent to direct deposit; the direct-deposit consent rule doesn't apply to a bona fide executive/administrative/professional employee earning over $1,300/week or to certain farm employees (§ 192) |
Liquidated damages equal to 100% of the wages found due (up to 300% for a willful minimum-wage/equal-pay violation under § 194), unless the employer proves a good-faith basis for believing it complied with the law; a judgment unpaid 90 days after issuance automatically increases by 15% (§ 198(1-a), (4)) |
An employee (or the Commissioner of Labor on the employee's behalf) may sue or bring an administrative action within six years of the underpayment, recovering the full unpaid wages, liquidated damages, prejudgment interest, and reasonable attorney's fees (§ 198(1-a), (3)) |
The § 198-c vacation/wage-supplement payout duty and the § 192 direct-deposit consent rule both carve out bona fide executive, administrative, or professional employees earning more than $1,300/week; § 192's direct-deposit rule also doesn't apply to certain farm employees |
| North Carolina verified 2026-07-06 | North Carolina Wage and Hour Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 95-25.6 (wage payment), 95-25.7 (deadline for separated employees), 95-25.13 (notice requirements), 95-25.22 (civil recovery, liquidated damages, attorney's fees) |
All wages due on or before the next regular payday, through regular pay channels or by trackable mail if the employee requests it in writing; bonus/commission-based wages are due on the first regular payday after the amount becomes calculable (§ 95-25.7) |
Identical to a discharge — § 95-25.7 covers an employee "whose employment is discontinued for any reason" and draws no distinction between quitting and being let go |
Vacation, sick, severance, and similar pay count as "wages" only where the employer has a policy or practice of making such payments (§ 95-25.2(16)). Once earned, those wages may not be forfeited unless the employer notified the employee, in writing, of a forfeiture policy or practice — at hiring, or at least one pay period before a change (§§ 95-25.7, 95-25.13(1), (3)); an employee never properly notified isn't subject to the forfeiture |
Final wages go through the regular pay channels, or by trackable mail if the employee requests that in writing (§ 95-25.7); an employer must give written notice at hiring of the promised wages and the day/place of payment, and post or otherwise make wage practices available in writing (§ 95-25.13(1), (2)) |
The employer owes the unpaid amount plus interest at the legal rate from when it first came due, and the court must ALSO award liquidated damages equal to that same amount — unless the employer proves the violation was a good-faith, reasonable-grounds mistake, in which case the court may reduce or eliminate the liquidated damages (§ 95-25.22(a), (a1)) |
An employee (or employees) may sue directly in the General Court of Justice, or the Commissioner of Labor may sue on their behalf after first exhausting administrative remedies (giving the employer notice and a chance to be heard); a prevailing plaintiff generally recovers costs and reasonable attorney's fees, and a frivolous plaintiff can be ordered to pay the employer's costs and fees instead. Claims must be brought within two years (§ 95-25.22) |
Employees exempt from the Act's minimum-wage, overtime, or youth-employment rules (for example, employees of an FLSA-covered enterprise) are not automatically exempt from the separate Wage Payment provisions, §§ 95-25.6 through 95-25.13, that set the final-pay deadline itself. A 2021 amendment tightened the mailed-final-check option from an oral to a written request and added the trackable-mail requirement |
| North Dakota verified 2026-07-06 | North Dakota Century Code Title 34, ch. 34-14 (Wage Collection); the separation rule is § 34-14-03 |
No accelerated deadline: wages become due at the regular payday already established in advance by the employer for the period worked, same as an ordinary paycheck (§ 34-14-03). A discharge or termination specifically must be paid by certified mail to the employee's designated address, unless the parties agree to a different method |
The identical regular-payday rule as a discharge or layoff (§ 34-14-03); a labor-dispute work suspension gets the same next-payday treatment too. No notice-contingent split and no certified-mail requirement for a voluntary quit |
Mandatory once earned: N.D. Admin. Code § 46-02-07-02(12) makes available paid time off "wages" upon separation and bars any contract or policy from forfeiting it. Two statutory carve-outs let an employer withhold it: a short-tenure quit (under 1 year) with less than 5 days' notice, if written notice of the limit was given at hiring; or PTO that was awarded but not yet earned, if written notice was given when it was awarded (§ 34-14-09.2) |
Ordinary paydays allow cash, a check cashable at a convenient bank or credit union, direct deposit, or an employee-elected stored value card (§ 34-14-02). A discharge or termination specifically must be paid BY CERTIFIED MAIL to an address the employee designates, unless employer and employee agree otherwise (§ 34-14-03) |
A waiting-time penalty at the employee's own contracted daily wage rate for each day the employer is in default, capped at 30 days (§ 34-14-03), plus statutory interest from the due date until paid in full (§ 34-14-09.1); a repeat-violator employer (2+ prior findings within a year) owes double damages, or treble damages after 3+ prior findings (§ 34-14-09.1) |
An administrative wage claim with the Labor Commissioner for amounts between $125 and $15,000 (smaller claims go to small claims court, larger to district court), filed within 2 years, tolled while pending (§ 34-14-09); the Commissioner can also take an assignment of the claim and sue directly (§ 34-14-08); a willful refusal to pay is a criminal infraction (§ 34-14-07); no attorney's-fee-shifting provision found in the chapter |
A good-faith wage dispute only requires paying the conceded amount, without condition, while the balance is resolved (§ 34-14-04); an employer reclassified from treating a worker as an independent contractor to an employee owes no retroactive wages, penalties, or interest unless the misclassification was willful (§ 34-14-07.1); the double/treble-damages penalty in § 34-14-09.1 doesn't reach Railway Labor Act claims or collective-bargaining-agreement disputes |
| Ohio verified 2026-07-06 | Ohio's "Prompt Pay Act," R.C. 4113.15 (payment schedule, fringe-benefit trustee duty, and liquidated damages); R.C. 4113.99(A) (misdemeanor penalty); R.C. 4113.16 (anti-waiver) |
No accelerated deadline: final wages are due on the same semimonthly schedule as an ordinary paycheck — by the 1st of the month for wages earned in the first half of the prior month, and by the 15th for wages earned in the second half (R.C. 4113.15(A)) |
Same as a discharge — R.C. 4113.15 sets one payment schedule for all employees and draws no distinction based on how or why the employment ended |
Ohio doesn't independently require an employer to offer vacation. But where an employer has agreed to provide it, R.C. 4113.15(D)(2) defines vacation, separation, or holiday pay as a "fringe benefit," and the employer becomes a trustee of the funds needed to provide it, owing payment within 30 days after the close of the pay period it was earned in (R.C. 4113.15(C)); Ohio courts apply this section to vacation-pay claims (Forbes v. Showmann, Inc., 2019-Ohio-2362). The statute has no separate clause barring a use-it-or-lose-it forfeiture policy the way some states' laws do |
R.C. 4113.15 doesn't itself set a required payment method (cash, check, or direct deposit); it only addresses timing and the right to demand payment "upon the proper paymaster at the place where such wages are usually paid" if the employee wasn't there to receive it at the regular time |
If wages remain unpaid 30 days beyond the regular payday (60 days beyond a claim or agreement date where no regular payday applies), and there's no good-faith contest or dispute, the employer owes liquidated damages equal to 6% of the still-unpaid, undisputed amount or $200, whichever is greater, on top of the wages themselves (R.C. 4113.15(B)). Violating R.C. 4113.15 is also a misdemeanor of the first degree (R.C. 4113.99(A)) |
Ohio courts, including federal courts applying Ohio law, recognize a private civil action to recover unpaid wages and the R.C. 4113.15(B) liquidated damages; the statute's text doesn't build in its own dedicated state-agency wage-claim adjudication process or attorney's-fee-shifting clause the way some other states' laws do. A violation can also be separately prosecuted as a criminal misdemeanor under R.C. 4113.99(A) |
R.C. 4113.15(A) allows a longer payment interval that's customary to a given trade or profession, or a different interval set by written contract. R.C. 4113.16 bars an employer from using a special contract or other means to exempt itself from the underlying semimonthly-payment duty itself. A franchisor isn't treated as the "employer" of a franchisee's employees under the Act unless it agrees in writing to that role or a court finds it exercises atypical control over the franchisee (R.C. 4113.15(D)(4)) |
| Oklahoma verified 2026-07-06 | 40 O.S. § 165.3 sets the deadline; § 165.1 defines "wages" (including vacation pay); § 165.9 provides for a private lawsuit with costs and attorney's fees; § 165.7 sets the administrative enforcement process |
At the next regular designated payday for the pay period the work was actually performed in: the same test as a quit, with no acceleration for a discharge (§ 165.3(A)) |
Identical to a discharge: the next regular designated payday for the pay period worked. Oklahoma's statute covers "whenever an employee's employment terminates" without distinguishing how it ended (§ 165.3(A)) |
Required once established: Oklahoma's "wages" definition includes "holiday and vacation pay ... agreed upon between the employer and the employee, ... or provided by the employer to his or her employees in an established policy" (§ 165.1); Oklahoma courts have held vacation pay earned under such a policy must be cashed out at separation (Biggs v. Surrey Broadcasting Co., 811 P.2d 111 (Okla. Civ. App. 1991)): unlike unused sick leave, which is payable only if the employer's own policy separately requires it |
Through the employer's regular pay channels, or by certified mail postmarked within the statutory deadline if the employee requests it (§ 165.3(A)) |
2% of the unpaid wages per day the failure continues, if the employer willfully withheld wages with no bona fide disagreement over the amount, or an amount equal to the unpaid wages, whichever is SMALLER; a bankruptcy filing by the employer stops the daily accrual (§ 165.3(B)) |
Dual path: (1) an administrative wage complaint to the Commissioner of Labor, who can issue an order of determination that becomes a recordable lien and money judgment if unpaid 20 days after it becomes final (§ 165.7); or (2) a private lawsuit, individually or as a representative action for similarly situated employees, where the court may award costs and reasonable attorney's fees in addition to the wages and liquidated damages (§ 165.9); the two remedies are cumulative, not exclusive (§ 165.7(G)) |
No liquidated-damages penalty attaches to any portion of wages subject to a genuine "bona fide disagreement": an honest, evidence-supported dispute over a determinative fact or the law's application (§ 165.1(9)); the deadline itself can be displaced by a collective bargaining agreement covering the employee (§ 165.3(A)); up to $3,000 of a deceased employee's unpaid wages passes directly to a surviving spouse or dependent children without a probate action (§ 165.3a) |
| Oregon verified 2026-07-06 | ORS 652.140 sets the deadline; § 652.150 sets the penalty wage; § 652.200 provides mandatory attorney's fees in a wage-collection lawsuit |
By the end of the first business day after a discharge or a termination by mutual agreement (§ 652.140(1)) |
Immediately, on the last day, if the employee gave at least 48 hours' advance notice of quitting (excluding weekends/holidays); otherwise within 5 days (excluding weekends/holidays) or the next regular payday, whichever occurs FIRST: with a special estimate-then-true-up rule for employees on time-record-based pay (§ 652.140(2)) |
No independent statutory floor: vacation/PTO is owed at separation only if the employer's own policy or agreement provides for it; a 2026 bill (HB 4094) that would have created a real statutory payout floor died in committee this session, confirming the gap remains |
Employer must mail final wages to any address the employee designates on request, or may deposit them by direct deposit if the employee has agreed to it (§ 652.140(4)); if the separation itself falls on a weekend or holiday, payment is due by the end of the first business day after that (§ 652.140(3)) |
For a willful violation, a continuing penalty wage of 8 hours' pay per day (at the employee's regular hourly rate) until paid or suit is filed, capped at 30 days (§ 652.150(1)); if the employee gives written notice of nonpayment, the penalty is instead capped at 100% of the unpaid wages unless the employer still hasn't paid in full within 12 days of that notice, in which case the uncapped 30-day penalty applies (§ 652.150(2)); the employer can avoid the penalty entirely by showing financial inability to pay when wages accrued (§ 652.150(5)) |
A wage claim filed with the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) or a private civil lawsuit; a court must award the employee reasonable attorney's fees if wages remain unpaid more than 48 hours after becoming due, unless the employee willfully violated the employment contract or the employee's attorney unreasonably skipped giving the employer written notice before suing (§ 652.200(2)) |
Seasonal farmworkers get an even faster default (wages due immediately on separation), with a narrow noon-the-next-day exception limited to end-of-harvest-season layoffs where the employer is a qualifying farmworker-camp operator providing free compliant housing until paid (§ 652.145); a business sale can carry over accrued leave to the new employer without triggering an immediate payout if the purchaser credits the same leave at an equal or better rate (§ 652.140(6)); motor-vehicle and farm-implement sales commissions follow their own due-date and reduced-penalty rules when the disputed amount is small (§ 652.150(3)) |
| Pennsylvania verified 2026-07-06 | 43 P.S. §§ 260.1 et seq., the Wage Payment and Collection Law (§ 260.5: deadline; § 260.2.1: definitions; § 260.3(b): fringe-benefit timing; § 260.9a: civil enforcement; § 260.10: liquidated damages; § 260.11.1: criminal penalty) |
Not later than the next regular payday on which the wages would otherwise have been due and payable (§ 260.5(a)) |
Same deadline as a discharge — the statute treats an employer separating an employee and an employee quitting or resigning identically (§ 260.5(a)) |
Counted as "wages" (a "fringe benefit or wage supplement") only if the employer has agreed to pay or provide it; the law creates no independent floor and doesn't require an employer to offer vacation at all (§ 260.2.1). Once agreed to, fringe benefits/wage supplements are due within 10 days after payment is required, or within 60 days of a proper claim if no time is specified (§ 260.3(b)) |
Ordinary wages are paid in lawful money or by check (§ 260.3(a)); a separated employee's final wages must be sent by certified mail if the employee requests it (§ 260.5(a)) |
Liquidated damages equal to 25% of the total wages due, or $500, whichever is greater, once wages remain unpaid 30 days past the regular payday (or 60 days past a claim or agreement date where no regular payday applies), unless a good-faith dispute or set-off claim exists (§ 260.10); a separate summary criminal offense carries a fine up to $300, imprisonment up to 90 days, or both, per violation (§ 260.11.1) |
A private civil suit (individually or on behalf of similarly situated employees), with mandatory attorney's fees for a prevailing employee, or a wage claim filed with the Secretary of Labor and Industry, who can seek a 10% penalty if the employer doesn't pay or explain within 10 days of certified notice; any claim must be brought within 3 years of when the wages became due (§ 260.9a) |
A good-faith wage dispute or an asserted right of set-off/counter-claim is a defense to both the liquidated-damages penalty and the criminal offense, so long as the employer pays all wages it concedes are due (§§ 260.6, 260.10, 260.11.1(b)); the law creates no substantive right to any particular pay — it only enforces whatever an employment agreement (written or oral) already promises |
| Rhode Island verified 2026-07-06 | Rhode Island General Laws Title 28, chapter 14 (Payment of Wages); the separation deadline itself is § 28-14-4 |
One deadline whether the employee is fired, laid off, or quits: unpaid wages become due on the next regular payday (§ 28-14-4(a)). If the specific reason for the separation is the employer liquidating, merging, disposing of, or removing the business out of state, the deadline accelerates sharply to within 24 hours of separation (§ 28-14-4(c)) |
The identical next-regular-payday rule as a discharge or layoff (§ 28-14-4(a)): Rhode Island draws no distinction based on who initiated the separation. A labor-dispute work stoppage gets that same next-payday deadline too (§ 28-14-5) |
Mandatory once an employee has worked at least one full year AND the employer has any vacation arrangement at all: written policy, verbal policy, or a collective bargaining agreement. Once both conditions are met, accrued vacation pay "become[s] wages" payable in full or on a prorated basis alongside the final paycheck (§ 28-14-4(b)), on the accelerated 24-hour clock too if the separation was from a business closure, merger, or relocation (§ 28-14-4(c)). An employee under a year of service, or whose employer never adopted any vacation arrangement, has no independent statutory claim |
Cash or a bank check convertible into cash on demand at full face value, paid at the employer's usual place of payment (§ 28-14-2); direct deposit or a compliant payroll card account is allowed only with the employee's written or electronic consent (§ 28-14-10.1) |
A violation is a misdemeanor: at least a $400 fine per offense, up to a year in jail, or both, with each missed pay period counting as its own separate civil violation (§ 28-14-17(a)). A knowing and willful violation of the separation-pay deadline becomes a felony if the unpaid wages exceed $1,500 (up to 3 years in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both) (§ 28-14-17(b)). On top of any criminal exposure, the Department of Labor and Training assesses a separate administrative penalty of 15%-25% of the back wages for a first violation within 3 years (25%-50% for a repeat violation) (§ 28-14-17.1), and an employer who doesn't pay within 30 days of a final decision can have its state business license revoked (§ 28-14-17(c)) |
Two mutually exclusive paths. A private civil lawsuit can recover unpaid wages plus liquidated damages up to 2 times the amount owed, attorney's fees, and equitable relief like reinstatement (§ 28-14-19.2), within a 3-year window, OR an administrative wage claim with the Department of Labor and Training, which after a hearing (now held and decided in "a reasonable and timely manner, not to exceed 120 days" at each stage, per a 2026 amendment already in force, see note below) can order the wages paid with 12% annual interest plus a civil penalty of up to 2 times the wages due, split between the state and the employee (§ 28-14-19). An employee must pick the civil-suit route before the Department issues its hearing notice; the two can't run at the same time |
A recalled employee's wage rate is protected: if an employee with more than a year of service is laid off and later returns to the same or a similar job, the employer must offer to pay the same wage rate the employee was earning at the time of the layoff (§ 28-14-31). In a receivership, insolvency, or similar creditor proceeding, up to $300 per employee in wages earned in the 3 months before the filing gets the same bankruptcy-law priority ahead of other creditors' dividends (§ 28-14-6.1). No private agreement can waive this chapter's protections, though a written bonus agreement is carved entirely out of the chapter's coverage (§ 28-14-9) |
| South Carolina verified 2026-07-28 | South Carolina's Payment of Wages Act, S.C. Code Ann. §§ 41-10-10 through 41-10-110: § 41-10-50 sets the separation-pay deadline, § 41-10-10(2) defines "wages," § 41-10-80 sets civil and administrative penalties, § 41-10-70 sets the DOL agency complaint process |
All wages due must be paid "within forty-eight hours of the time of separation or the next regular payday which may not exceed thirty days" (§ 41-10-50). In practice: pay within 48 hours, or by the next regular payday if that's sooner, but never later than 30 days after separation either way |
The identical rule as a discharge. Section 41-10-50 applies whenever an employer "separates an employee from the payroll for any reason": a 1990 amendment broadened the section from a notice-triggered rule to cover every kind of separation the same way, so a voluntary quit gets the same 48-hour/next-payday/30-day-cap deadline as a firing or layoff |
No independent statutory floor, but the Act's own "wages" definition sweeps in vacation, holiday, and sick-leave pay once an employer policy or contract creates the entitlement: "'Wages' means all amounts at which labor rendered is recompensed... and includes vacation, holiday, and sick leave payments which are due to an employee under any employer policy or employment contract" (§ 41-10-10(2)). If the employer's own written policy provides for forfeiture of unused vacation at termination, that policy generally controls: the statute doesn't override a valid forfeiture clause, it only guarantees payout of whatever the policy actually promises. Severance pay is NOT wages under the Act (removed by a 1990 amendment) and funds in a pension or profit-sharing plan are also excluded |
Wages must be paid "in lawful United States money or by negotiable warrant or check bearing even date with the payday," and an employer may instead deposit wages to the employee's account at a federally insured financial institution (§ 41-10-40(A)-(B)). The same time-and-place rules that govern ordinary paychecks apply to the final one, since § 41-10-80(C)'s penalty covers a violation of either § 41-10-40 (medium of payment) or § 41-10-50 (separation deadline) alike |
An employee may recover three times the full amount of the unpaid wages, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees, in a civil action (§ 41-10-80(C)). The South Carolina Supreme Court has held this treble-damages remedy is discretionary, not mandatory, the statute says the employee "may" recover it, and a trial court can decline to treble damages where the employer withheld wages because of a genuine, good-faith dispute over what was owed (Rice v. Multimedia, Inc., 456 S.E.2d 381 (S.C. 1995)). Separately, the state labor agency can issue its own administrative civil penalty of up to $100 per violation for a § 41-10-40 violation, with each missed payment a separate offense (§ 41-10-80(A)-(B)), a much smaller, agency-only track distinct from the employee's treble-damages lawsuit |
An employee can file a written complaint with the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, which may investigate and try to resolve the dispute through mediation, but the agency cannot itself award the employee back pay, collecting the money still requires the employee's own civil action (§ 41-10-70). A private civil action for the treble-damages remedy must be filed within three years after the wages became due (§ 41-10-80(C)); there's no requirement to file with DOL LLR first. If wages are genuinely disputed, the employer must still give written notice of the amount it concedes is owed and pay that undisputed portion without any condition, accepting it doesn't waive the employee's claim to the rest (§ 41-10-60) |
No employer size or industry exemption applies to the final-paycheck deadline or the treble-damages penalty: the only small-employer carve-out in the Act (fewer than 5 employees, or domestic labor in a private home) exempts those employers solely from the separate wage-notice/recordkeeping section, § 41-10-30, not from §§ 41-10-50 or 41-10-80 (§ 41-10-20). Commission-based pay is expressly covered as "wages." No private agreement can waive or override any provision of the Act (§ 41-10-100) |
| South Dakota verified 2026-07-06 | South Dakota Codified Laws ch. 60-11 (Payment of Wages); the separation deadlines are §§ 60-11-10 (discharge/layoff) and 60-11-11 (quit) |
Next regular payday for the hours that would normally have been paid, OR later, if the employee hasn't yet returned all employer property in the employee's possession (§ 60-11-10). No fixed day count beyond the regular pay schedule |
Identical next-regular-payday rule, with the same employer-property holdback (§ 60-11-11), for any employee without a written contract for a definite period. No notice-contingent split |
No independent statutory floor: chapter 60-11 has no vacation/PTO provision at all. Payout is owed only if the employer's own policy, handbook, or agreement promises it, enforced as ordinary contract law rather than as a wage-payment claim |
Cash, check, or direct deposit to the employee's bank account, unless employer and employee agree to a different form (§ 60-11-9); final pay follows the same form since §§ 60-11-10/-11 both tie the deadline to "the next regular stated pay day" under § 60-11-9 |
No automatic per-day penalty. Double damages apply ONLY if the employer's refusal to pay was oppressive, fraudulent, or malicious (§ 60-11-7); a separate Class 2 misdemeanor applies to an employer's intentional refusal to pay on demand (§ 60-11-15) |
A private civil suit for double damages, or the Dept. of Labor and Regulation can take an assignment of the claim (capped at $500 under the technical-assignment route, § 60-11-18; uncapped under the "in trust" assignment for wages or liquidated damages, § 60-11-19) and sue on the employee's behalf; no attorney's-fee-shifting provision found anywhere in the chapter |
An employer may withhold final wages past the regular payday, indefinitely, until the employee returns all employer property still in their possession (§§ 60-11-10, -11); a labor-dispute work suspension still gets paid on the next regular payday, with any faithful-performance deposit returned in full (§ 60-11-12); a good-faith dispute over the amount owed only requires paying the conceded portion (§ 60-11-13) |
| Tennessee verified 2026-07-06 | Tennessee's Wage Regulation Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-2-103: subsection (g) sets the separation-pay deadline (amended in 2026), (a)(4) covers vacation pay, and (i)-(j) set the penalty and the Department of Labor's enforcement role |
One rule covers both a discharge and a quit: paid in full no later than the next regular payday following separation, or 21 days following separation, whichever occurs LAST, the employer gets the longer of the two windows, not the shorter (§ 50-2-103(g), as amended by 2026 Pub. Ch. 617, effective 2026-07-01, already in force). An employee paid on a piece-work or commission basis instead gets final compensation by the last day of the month following separation, a new 2026 carve-out |
The same rule as a discharge: Tennessee doesn't distinguish fired from quit: next regular payday or 21 days after separation, whichever occurs last, with the same piece-work/commission carve-out to the last day of the following month (§ 50-2-103(g)) |
No independent statutory floor. Final wages "shall include any vacation pay or other compensatory time that is owed to the employee by virtue of company policy or labor agreement", but the statute expressly says this "does not mandate employers to provide vacations ... nor does it require that employers establish written vacation pay policies" (§ 50-2-103(a)(4)). If the employer's own policy allows forfeiture on separation, that forfeiture controls |
Cash, a negotiable check or draft cashable without discount or fee, electronic funds transfer, or a prepaid debit card: with at least one free withdrawal per pay period and the employee's right to choose electronic transfer instead (§ 50-2-103(e)). An employee absent from the workplace when payment is due is paid within a reasonable time after making a demand (§ 50-2-103(f)) |
No automatic per-day wage accrual and no extra damages owed to the employee under this statute. A violation is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $100-$500; a willful violation additionally carries a civil penalty of $500-$1,000 at the commissioner's discretion, with a warning instead of a penalty for a first, unintentional violation. The commissioner chooses civil or criminal treatment, never both for the same violation (§ 50-2-103(i)) |
The Department of Labor and Workforce Development enforces this section; it has been read to create no private right of action of its own, so the practical route is a wage complaint with the department's Labor Standards Unit rather than a lawsuit under § 50-2-103 itself. The department can inspect an employer's wage and payroll records for a complaint under investigation (§ 50-2-103(j)) |
A 2026 amendment (Pub. Ch. 617, eff. 2026-07-01) carves out employees paid on a piece-work or commission basis: their final compensation is due by the last day of the month following separation, not the ordinary next-payday-or-21-days rule, and an employer can't contract around it. Separately, this section's deadlines apply only to "private employment," defined as a business with five (5) or more employees (§ 50-2-103(b)): smaller employers fall outside its coverage |
| Texas verified 2026-07-06 | Tex. Lab. Code §§ 61.001, 61.014 (deadlines); § 61.018 (deductions); § 61.051 (wage claim filing) |
6 calendar days after the date of discharge (§ 61.014(a)) |
Next regularly scheduled payday, regardless of how much notice the employee gave (§ 61.014(b)) |
No independent statutory payout requirement — vacation, holiday, sick, parental, and severance pay count as "wages" under § 61.001(7) only if owed under a written agreement or a written employer policy; the statute itself creates no floor |
In person at the regular workplace, at an agreed time/place, by registered mail arriving by payday, or to a written-designated recipient (§ 61.017); wages may not be withheld or diverted except by court order, other law, or the employee's own written authorization (§ 61.018) |
No automatic per-day penalty; a bad-faith nonpayment finding lets the Texas Workforce Commission assess an administrative penalty capped at the lesser of the wages claimed or $1,000 (§ 61.053); willfully avoiding wages owed is a third-degree felony (§ 61.019) |
File a wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission within 180 days after the wages became due (§ 61.051); TWC investigates and issues a wage determination order, enforceable through an administrative lien and ultimately a Travis County district court suit if unpaid (§§ 61.052-61.066) |
The chapter doesn't apply to the United States, Texas, or a political subdivision as employer (§ 61.003); a franchisor isn't treated as the employer of a franchisee or the franchisee's employees for a wage claim (§ 61.0031); commissions and bonuses are due on the terms of the employee's own agreement or a collective bargaining agreement, then must be paid as promptly as other wages once due (§ 61.015) |
| Utah verified 2026-07-06 | Utah Code § 34-28-5 sets the separation-pay deadlines; § 34-28-9 and § 34-28-9.5 set enforcement and remedies; § 34-28-3 sets the general payday and payment-method rules |
Wages become due immediately and must be paid within 24 hours of separation (§ 34-28-5(1)(a)): covers an ordinary discharge or layoff; a narrower carve-out applies if the separation is a work stoppage from an industrial dispute (see Exceptions) |
By the next regular payday, with no notice-contingent acceleration: applies whenever the employee resigns without a written contract for a definite period (§ 34-28-5(2)) |
No statutory requirement: the chapter's own "wages" definition covers only compensation for labor or services calculated by time, task, piece, or commission (§ 34-28-2(1)(i)), with no mention of vacation or PTO, so payout depends entirely on the employer's own written policy or contract, including a use-it-or-lose-it forfeiture clause |
Wages must be paid in lawful U.S. money, by a negotiable check/draft cashable at full face value, or by electronic transfer to the employee's designated account (§ 34-28-3(1)(e)); for a separation specifically, the 24-hour deadline is satisfied by mailing the wages (postmarked within one day of separation), initiating a direct deposit within 24 hours, or hand delivery within 24 hours (§ 34-28-5(1)(b)) |
A waiting-time penalty: if wages remain unpaid 24 hours after the employee's WRITTEN DEMAND, the wages continue accruing at the same daily rate the employee earned at separation, from the date of demand until paid, capped at 60 days, but only if the employee actually made a written demand (§ 34-28-5(1)(c)); the Labor Commission's Division can separately assess an administrative penalty of 5% of the unpaid wages per day, capped at 20 days (§ 34-28-9(2)(a)) |
File a wage claim ($50-$10,000) with the Division of Antidiscrimination and Labor within one year of when the wages were earned (§ 34-28-9(1)(c)-(e)); a claim of $10,000 or less must exhaust that administrative process before suing, unless the claim (or several employees' combined claims) exceeds $10,000 (§ 34-28-9.5(1)-(2)); a court can then award actual damages, an added 2.5%-per-day penalty (capped at 20 days after judgment), plus the separate waiting-time penalty (§ 34-28-9.5(3)); willful nonpayment with intent to defraud, harass, or delay is a class B misdemeanor (§ 34-28-12) |
State and local government employees, agricultural/dairy/stock-raising employers, and household domestic service are excluded from most of the chapter, but the 24-hour separation-pay rule of § 34-28-5 still applies to farm, dairy, and stock/poultry employment (§ 34-28-1); work stopped by an industrial dispute (a strike or lockout) gets the slower next-regular-payday deadline instead of the 24-hour rule (§ 34-28-5(3)); a commission-based sales agent's commission earnings are exempt from the 24-hour rule if the net amount owed can only be determined after an audit or verification of sales, accounts, funds, or stock (§ 34-28-5(4)); in a genuine dispute over the amount owed, the employer must still pay the conceded portion without condition, and the employee's acceptance of it doesn't waive the rest of the claim (§ 34-28-6) |
| Vermont verified 2026-07-06 | Vermont Statutes Annotated Title 21, ch. 5, subch. 2 (Wages and Medium of Payment); the separation deadlines are in 21 V.S.A. § 342(b) |
Within 72 hours of discharge (§ 342(b)(2)) |
The last regular payday, or the following Friday if there's no regular payday (§ 342(b)(1)): no notice-contingent split. An employee absent on the regular payday is instead entitled to payment on demand (§ 342(b)(3)) |
No independent statutory floor: § 342 has no vacation/PTO provision, and Vermont's own Dept. of Labor confirms even earned sick time need not be paid out at separation. A 2025 bill (H.295) that would have added a mandatory vacation-payout requirement died without passing committee |
Lawful money or a check (§ 342(a)(1)); direct deposit or a payroll-card account only with the employee's WRITTEN authorization, with extensive payroll-card consumer protections (§ 342(c)); a payroll-card employer's obligations end 30 days after separation once final wages are paid (§ 342(d)) |
A flat DOUBLE-damages civil forfeiture (twice the value of the unpaid wages) plus mandatory costs and attorney's fees, with no daily accrual and no separate dollar cap (§ 347); a willful violation found through the Dept. of Labor's own administrative process draws a separate up-to-double penalty split between the employee and the department (§ 342a(d)) |
A private civil action under § 347 (barred once wages are fully paid) with mandatory costs and attorney's fees, or a Dept. of Labor wage complaint under § 342a (2-year filing window, investigation, written order, appeal to an ALJ then the Employment Security Board); a separate quasi-criminal fine up to $5,000 applies to the employer (or a controlling corporate officer who acted willfully) under § 345(a) |
Employers may pay biweekly/semimonthly after notice, or up to 13 days out under a collective bargaining agreement (§ 342(a)(2)); a special school-district payroll-withholding election exists for school employees (§ 342(a)(3)); failure to pay a contractually-promised BENEFIT (not wages) draws a separate knowing-and-willful civil penalty after a 30-day grace period (§ 345(b)) |
| Virginia verified 2026-07-06 | Virginia's Payment of Wages Act, Va. Code § 40.1-29, most recently and substantially rewritten by 2026 Va. Acts ch. 1040 (HB 238), effective July 1, 2026 |
All wages due for work performed before the separation must be paid on or before the date the employee would have been paid for that work had the employment not been terminated — the same rule applies whatever the reason for the termination (§ 40.1-29(B)) |
Identical rule to a discharge: all wages due are paid on or before the date the employee would have otherwise been paid had the job continued. Virginia draws no distinction based on whether the employee quit, resigned, or was let go, or on how much notice was given (§ 40.1-29(B)) |
Section 40.1-29(A) defines "wages" through an exhaustive list — hourly wages, minimum wages, piece rate wages, day rates, salaries, overtime wages, prevailing wages, commissions, tips, bonuses, and misclassification damages — that does not include vacation, PTO, or other fringe benefits. Virginia has no independent statute requiring payout of unused vacation at separation; it's owed only if the employer's own written policy or contract promises it |
Wages may be paid in U.S. currency, by check payable at face value on demand, by electronic transfer into an account the employee designates, or by a prepaid debit card the employer arranges (with full written fee disclosure and, for most employees, the employee's affirmative consent) that allows at least one free full withdrawal per pay period (§ 40.1-29(C)). No part of wages may be withheld except for taxes or with the employee's written, signed authorization (§ 40.1-29(D)) |
No automatic daily-accrual penalty. An employer that fails to pay wages owes the unpaid wages plus an equal amount as liquidated (double) damages, plus interest at 8% a year from the date the wages were due (§ 40.1-29(H)); if a court finds the failure was "knowing," it instead triples the wages owed, plus attorney's fees and costs (§ 40.1-29(K)). Willful, intentional nonpayment (absent a bona fide pay dispute) is also a crime — a Class 1 misdemeanor if the unpaid wages total under $10,000, a Class 6 felony at $10,000 or more or on a second or later conviction (§ 40.1-29(F)) — and the Commissioner can separately assess a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation (§ 40.1-29(I)). A good-faith defense effective July 1, 2026 blocks additional damages or penalties if the employer had reasonable grounds to believe it wasn't violating the law and cures the violation within 14 days of notice (§ 40.1-29(P)) |
An employee may sue individually, jointly with other employees, or as a collective action for the unpaid wages, liquidated damages, interest, and attorney's fees and costs — tripled if the employer's failure was knowing (§ 40.1-29(K)). The Commissioner of Labor and Industry can also investigate a complaint, pursue administrative proceedings, or refer the matter to the Attorney General for civil enforcement (§ 40.1-29(G), (N)); an action must be commenced within three years (§ 40.1-29(M)) |
Executive personnel are exempt from the regular-pay-period-and-rate requirement entirely. Work-study students and employees earning more than 150% of the Commonwealth's average weekly wage can be paid just once a month, by agreement, instead of the usual twice-a-month minimum (§ 40.1-29(B)). Effective July 1, 2026, general contractors on construction contracts entered on or after that date are made statutory "employers," jointly and severally liable for a subcontractor's unpaid wages — a liability expansion layered on top of the ordinary final-pay rules, not a change to the deadline itself |
| Washington verified 2026-07-06 | Washington's Wages — Payment — Collection chapter, RCW 49.48 (the deadline is RCW 49.48.010(2)), together with the Wage Rebate Act, RCW 49.52.050 and .070 (willful-underpayment penalties). The administrative wage-complaint process, RCW 49.48.082–.087, was substantially rewritten by 2026 c. 53 (2SHB 2479) and 2026 c. 176 (SB 6058), both effective June 11, 2026 and already in force |
"When any employee shall cease to work for an employer, whether by discharge or by voluntary withdrawal, the wages due him or her on account of his or her employment shall be paid to him or her at the end of the established pay period" — a discharge doesn't get a faster deadline than the employee's regular payday (RCW 49.48.010(2)) |
The identical rule applies to a voluntary quit — paid at the end of the established pay period, the same as a discharge. One narrow carve-out: workers in an industry that normally involves working interchangeably for several employers can be paid under a cooperative weekly-payday plan instead, once the employers have given 10 days' notice of the plan to the Department of Labor and Industries (RCW 49.48.010(2)) |
Washington's wage statutes don't independently require an employer to offer or pay out vacation, and neither RCW 49.48 nor RCW 49.52 has a vacation-specific provision. "Wage" is broadly defined as "compensation due to an employee by reason of employment" (RCW 49.46.010(9)), and once an employer's own written policy or contract promises vacation pay, it's treated the same as any other earned compensation for enforcement purposes — payable and collectible as wages, even though the underlying promise itself was never mandatory |
The statute addresses payment instruments rather than a full menu of methods: wages may be paid in cash or by check/order convertible into cash on demand at full face value; if an employer pays with an instrument that later bounces for nonsufficient funds, the employer must reimburse the employee's bank fee for the dishonored instrument, as long as the employee presents it within 30 days of receiving it (RCW 49.48.010(1)) |
No automatic per-day accrual. Violating the pay-period deadline is itself a misdemeanor (RCW 49.48.020). Separately, an employer who willfully and with intent to deprive an employee of wages pays less than legally owed is liable in a civil action for twice the unpaid wages as exemplary damages, plus costs and attorney's fees (RCW 49.52.070); any successful wage lawsuit (willful or not) also gets the employee reasonable attorney's fees (RCW 49.48.030). On the administrative side, the Department of Labor and Industries can order payment of the wages plus 1% monthly interest, and — for a willful violation — a civil penalty of not less than $1,500 or 10% of the unpaid wages, whichever is greater, with no maximum cap as of a mid-2026 amendment that removed the prior $20,000 ceiling (RCW 49.48.083) |
An employee can sue directly in court for the wages, double exemplary damages for a willful violation, and attorney's fees, or file a written wage complaint with the Department of Labor and Industries, which investigates and issues either a citation and notice of assessment or a determination of compliance, generally within 60 days (RCW 49.48.083). The Department can also take an assignment of a wage claim and prosecute it for an employee who can't afford counsel (RCW 49.48.040). The statute of limitations is three years, tolled while a wage complaint is pending with the Department |
The cooperative multi-employer weekly-payday plan described above is the one fixed-schedule exception to the end-of-pay-period rule. On the penalty side, the Department may not assess a civil penalty if the employer reasonably relied on a department rule, written ruling, or filed interpretive policy, and (unless the employer is a repeat or frequent violator) the Department must waive the penalty if the employer pays all wages and interest owed within 10 business days of receiving the citation (RCW 49.48.083) |
| West Virginia verified 2026-07-06 | West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act, W. Va. Code §§ 21-5-1 to 21-5-19; the separation deadline itself is set by § 21-5-4(b) |
On or before the next regular payday on which the wages would otherwise be due: no accelerated discharge-specific deadline currently exists (§ 21-5-4(b)); a layoff or a work stoppage from a labor dispute gets the same next-regular-payday deadline (§ 21-5-4(d)) |
Identical rule to a discharge or layoff: on or before the next regular payday. The statute covers a discharge and a quit/resignation in the same sentence, with no separate or faster deadline for quitting and no notice-contingent exception (§ 21-5-4(b)) |
Generally yes. "Wages" for purposes of the separation-pay deadline expressly includes then-accrued fringe benefits (a term that covers vacation, holidays, sick leave, personal leave, and bonuses) that are capable of calculation and payable directly to the employee (§ 21-5-1(c), (l)). But if a written fringe-benefit agreement sets its own later payment date or additional conditions, that agreement controls instead of the next-payday default (§ 21-5-4(b)) |
Cash order, which can be a check, direct deposit, payroll card, or money order, through the employer's regular pay channels, or by mail if the employee requests it, with a mailed payment considered made on the date it's postmarked (§ 21-5-4(a), (c)) |
2 times the unpaid amount as liquidated damages, on top of the wages themselves (§ 21-5-4(e)). But this damages remedy is gated by a safe-harbor procedure: the employee must first send the employer a written demand, and the employer has 7 calendar days to correct the shortfall before liquidated damages or attorney's fees become available (§ 21-5-4a) |
The employee can bring a civil action directly, or ask the Commissioner of Labor to bring it on the employee's behalf at no cost to the employee; a prevailing plaintiff can recover costs and reasonable attorney's fees (§ 21-5-12). Before seeking liquidated damages or attorney's fees specifically, the employee must first send the required written demand and let the 7-day cure period run, unless the employer failed to give the legally required notice of who to send that demand to (§ 21-5-4a) |
An employer may withhold, deduct, or divert final wages to recover the replacement cost of employer-provided property (tools, phones, computers, uniforms) worth more than $100 that the employee didn't return, but only if the employee signed a qualifying written agreement in advance, the employer gave written notice and a return deadline of up to 10 business days, and a dispute over the amount goes into an interest-bearing escrow account rather than straight to the employer (§ 21-5-4(f)). The safe-harbor written-demand-and-cure requirement above is itself a special procedural rule that changes when the standard liquidated-damages penalty actually becomes available |
| Wisconsin verified 2026-07-06 | Wisconsin's Wage Payment, Claims and Collections law, Wis. Stat. ch. 109: § 109.03 sets the separation-pay deadline, § 109.01(3) defines "wages," § 109.09 sets the DWD wage-claim process, § 109.11 sets penalties |
By no later than the earlier of the employee's next regular payday, or 6 days after the employee demands payment (§ 109.03(1)-(2)). No acceleration for an ordinary discharge or layoff beyond this. A separate 24-hour deadline applies only if the separation results from the employer merging, liquidating, closing, or relocating the business (§ 109.03(4)) |
The identical rule as a discharge: § 109.03(2) covers "who quits employment or who is discharged from employment" together, with no distinction between the two |
No independent statutory floor. Wisconsin's own "wage" definition includes "holiday and vacation pay ... and any other similar advantages agreed upon between the employer and the employee or provided by the employer to the employees as an established policy" (§ 109.01(3)), so vacation pay becomes a recoverable "wage" under ch. 109 only once the employer has agreed to it or established it as policy, confirmed by Wisconsin case law (Sliwinski v. City of Milwaukee, 2009 WI App 162) |
Ch. 109 itself only specifies a delivery place for the business-closure deadline: wages go "to the employee at the usual place of payment" (§ 109.03(4)). The Department of Workforce Development's own guidance confirms an employer may require direct deposit at no cost to the employee, but must still provide a pay stub showing hours, rate, and deductions |
Layered civil and criminal penalties, not a single flat rule. Administratively, DWD can order up to 50% in increased wages on top of the wages owed unless the employer shows paying it would cause extreme hardship (§ 109.11(1)(b)). In court, before DWD finishes investigating, a judge may add up to 50% in increased wages (§ 109.11(2)(a)); after DWD's investigation is complete, up to 100% (effectively double damages) (§ 109.11(2)(b)), courts have discretion to award less, per Johnson v. Roma II, Waterford LLC, 2013 WI App 38. Willful nonpayment with intent to defraud or harass is also a crime: up to a $500 fine, 90 days in jail, or both, with each unpaid employee a separate offense (§ 109.11(3)) |
An employee can file a wage claim with DWD within 2 years of when the wages were due, and DWD can sue the employer or refer the matter for criminal prosecution (§ 109.09(1)); DWD or the employee also gets an automatic property lien against the employer for the unpaid amount (§ 109.09(2)). An employee can instead sue directly in court without ever filing a DWD claim (§ 109.03(5)), and a court can award the prevailing party a reasonable sum for expenses, which Wisconsin courts read to include attorney's fees (§ 109.03(6); Jacobson v. American Tool Cos., Inc., 222 Wis. 2d 384 (Ct. App. 1998)) |
Commission-basis sales agents are expressly excluded from the § 109.03(2) separation-pay deadline, as are employees under a written contract for a definite period. If an employee dies, ch. 109 sets a separate payment-priority order to a spouse or domestic partner, then children, then other dependents (§ 109.03(3)). A franchisor generally isn't treated as the "employer" of a franchisee's employees for ch. 109 purposes (§ 109.015). Certain roles, corporate officers/directors, LLC managers, partners, sole proprietors, independent contractors, and managerial/executive/commissioned-sales employees, fall outside the "employee" definition entirely (§ 109.01(1r)), and local governments may not enact their own wage-claim ordinances (§ 109.09(3)(b)) |
| Wyoming verified 2026-07-06 | Wyoming Statutes Title 27, ch. 4 (Wages); the separation deadline is W.S. § 27-4-104 |
No later than the employer's usual practice on regularly scheduled payroll dates, or a time set by a collective bargaining agreement (§ 27-4-104(a)): the same rule as a quit, no accelerated discharge-specific deadline. A genuinely TEMPORARY layoff or labor-dispute work suspension instead gets the next-regular-payday rule under the separate § 27-4-101(d) |
Identical rule as a discharge: no later than the employer's usual regularly-scheduled payroll date (§ 27-4-104(a)); no notice-contingent split |
Presumptively mandatory: the collection chapter's own "wages" definition includes vacation leave UNLESS the employer has a WRITTEN forfeiture policy that the employee has ACKNOWLEDGED IN WRITING (§ 27-4-501(a)(iii)); absent either condition, unused vacation is owed at separation like any other wage |
Lawful U.S. money, or a check or draft cashable at a bank (§ 27-4-104(a)); direct deposit is allowed for wages generally with the employee's voluntary authorization (§ 27-4-101(b)) |
No automatic liquidated-damages multiplier or daily accrual: a court that finds wages justly due MUST award 18% annual interest from the date of discharge or termination, plus a reasonable attorney's fee and all costs of suit (§ 27-4-104(b)); separately, a willful violation is a misdemeanor fined $500-$750 per offense (§ 27-4-105) |
A private civil suit (mandatory 18% interest + attorney's fees, § 27-4-104(b)), or an administrative wage claim with the Dept. of Workforce Services capped at 2 months' wages (or the Bankruptcy Code cap for bankruptcy claims), with a hearing-officer process and county-attorney-assisted court collection (§§ 27-4-502(a), 27-4-504); an employer that ignores a collection order faces its own $200/day civil fine (§ 27-4-504(d)); the criminal misdemeanor track under § 27-4-105 runs independently and doesn't preclude the civil suit |
Commission sales agents whose net pay isn't determinable without an audit are excluded from § 27-4-104 entirely (§ 27-4-104(a)); the employer may offset amounts the employee owes it against final wages (§ 27-4-104(a)); retaliation against an employee who files a wage claim draws liquidated damages equal to the lost wages, on top of reinstatement/promotion relief (§ 27-4-502(b)) |
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