Final paycheck deadline calculator
Lost your job or quit? The day your last check is due depends on your state and on how the job ended. Pick your state and your last day, and we tell you the date and what happens if it is late.
What these words mean
- Final paycheck
- The last pay you are owed after a job ends: all hours worked and, in some states, your unused vacation.
- Late-pay penalty
- Extra money some states make an employer pay when your final check is late.
- Payout
- Being paid cash for paid time off you earned but never used.
- Wage complaint
- A free claim you file with your state labor office or the U.S. Department of Labor when you are not paid what the law requires.
Questions
Can my employer keep my last check until I return my uniform or laptop?
In almost every state, no. Washington and Texas say so in plain terms, and in California a held check counts as late and starts the penalty clock. South Dakota is the one state that lets an employer wait for company property.
What is the California waiting-time penalty?
If an employer deliberately pays your final wages late, you are owed a full day of pay for every day it is late, up to 30 days. Your employer can avoid it only by showing there was a genuine disagreement about what you were owed.
Will my unused vacation be in my last check?
In California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island the law says yes (a few of these let a written policy limit it). In other states it depends on what your employer's written policy says. See PTO payout laws by state.
My check is late. What do I do?
Ask for it in writing first, because in several states the penalty only starts after you ask. If it still does not come, file a free wage complaint with your state labor office. You do not need a lawyer to do that.