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Free table · Employee separations

Final paycheck laws by state

How fast a departing employee must be paid in each state, whether quitting changes the clock, what the state says about unused vacation, and what a late check can cost, from the labor agencies' and legislatures' own pages.

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Quick answer. Most states let the employer pay a departing employee on the next regular payday. 14 jurisdictions want faster pay after a firing, from the same day (California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nevada) to a few working days. Rules for quitting are usually looser, and a few states reward notice with a faster check.

Have a date in mind? The final paycheck due date calculator takes the state, how the job ended and the last day worked, and shows the deadline with the state's own wording.

Final paycheck deadlines in all 50 states and DC

Select a column heading to sort. "Fired" covers a discharge or layoff where the state treats them alike. "Not stated" means the official page we read didn't address it.

Sources: each state's labor agency or statute site, checked November 2026. State names with a link have their own page.
Source
AlabamaNot confirmedNot confirmedNot statedNot statedOfficial page
Alaska3 working daysA payday 3+ working days outNot statedNot statedOfficial page
Arizona7 working daysNext paydayNot statedStatedOfficial page
ArkansasNext paydayNot confirmedNot statedStatedOfficial page
CaliforniaSame daySame day with notice; 72 hours withoutRule statedStatedOfficial page
ColoradoSame dayNext paydayRule statedStatedOfficial page
Connecticut1 working dayNext paydayRule statedStatedOfficial page
DelawareNext paydayNext paydayNot statedNot statedOfficial page
District of Columbia1 working dayNext payday or 7 days, if soonerNot statedStatedOfficial page
FloridaNot confirmedNot confirmedNot statedNot statedOfficial page
GeorgiaNot confirmedNot confirmedNot statedNot statedOfficial page
Hawaii1 working daySame day with notice; next payday withoutNot statedNot statedOfficial page
IdahoNext payday or 10 working days, if soonerNext payday or 10 working days, if soonerNot statedStatedOfficial page
IllinoisNext paydayNext paydayRule statedNot statedOfficial page
IndianaNext paydayNext paydayNot statedStatedOfficial page
IowaNext paydayNot confirmedRule statedNot statedOfficial page
KansasNext paydayNext paydayNot statedNot statedOfficial page
KentuckyNext payday or 14 days, if laterNext payday or 14 days, if laterNot statedNot statedOfficial page
LouisianaNext payday or 15 days, if soonerNext payday or 15 days, if soonerRule statedNot statedOfficial page
MaineNext paydayNext paydayRule statedStatedOfficial page
MarylandNext paydayNext paydayRule statedNot statedOfficial page
MassachusettsSame dayNext paydayNot statedStatedOfficial page
MichiganAs soon as figuredAs soon as figuredNot statedNot statedOfficial page
Minnesota24 hours after askingA payday 6+ days out (max 20)Rule statedNot statedOfficial page
MississippiNot confirmedNot confirmedNot statedNot statedOfficial page
MissouriSame dayNo state ruleNot statedStatedOfficial page
MontanaSame dayNext payday or 15 days, if soonerNot statedStatedOfficial page
NebraskaNext payday or 14 days, if soonerNext payday or 14 days, if soonerNot statedNot statedOfficial page
NevadaSame dayNext payday or 7 days, if soonerNot statedStatedOfficial page
New Hampshire72 hours72 hours with notice; next payday withoutNot statedStatedOfficial page
New JerseyNext paydayNext paydayRule statedNot statedOfficial page
New MexicoNot confirmedNot confirmedNot statedNot statedOfficial page
New YorkNext paydayNext paydayNot statedNot statedOfficial page
North CarolinaNext paydayNext paydayNot statedNot statedOfficial page
North DakotaNext paydayNext paydayRule statedNot statedOfficial page
OhioNot confirmedNot confirmedNot statedStatedOfficial page
OklahomaNext paydayNext paydayNot statedNot statedOfficial page
Oregon1 working daySame day with notice; next payday or 5 working days, if sooner withoutNot statedStatedOfficial page
PennsylvaniaNext paydayNext paydayNot statedStatedOfficial page
Rhode IslandNext paydayNext paydayRule statedNot statedOfficial page
South CarolinaNext payday or 30 days, if soonerNext payday or 30 days, if soonerRule statedStatedOfficial page
South DakotaNext paydayNext paydayNot statedNot statedOfficial page
Tennessee21 days21 daysRule statedNot statedOfficial page
Texas6 daysNext paydayRule statedNot statedOfficial page
Utah24 hoursNext paydayNot statedStatedOfficial page
Vermont72 hoursNext paydayNot statedNot statedOfficial page
VirginiaNext paydayNot confirmedNot statedStatedOfficial page
WashingtonEnd of pay periodEnd of pay periodNot statedNot statedOfficial page
West VirginiaNext paydayNext paydayRule statedNot statedOfficial page
WisconsinNext paydayNext paydayRule statedStatedOfficial page
WyomingNext paydayNext paydayRule statedStatedOfficial page

New Jersey's rule (next regular payday, quit or fired) is on our New Jersey layoff checklist. No deadline confirmed for: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio.

How the deadlines are written

States phrase final pay in a handful of ways, and the phrasing decides the date. "Next regular payday" means the payday that would have come anyway. "Whichever is earlier" pairs a payday with a day count, as Louisiana (15 days), Nebraska (two weeks) and Idaho (10 days, not counting weekends) do; Kentucky is the odd one out with "whichever last occurs." Working-day rules, like Alaska's three and Oregon's next business day, skip weekends. Minnesota starts its 24 hours when the fired employee asks to be paid.

Vacation, commissions and how the check arrives

Vacation payout splits states three ways on the pages we read: paid as wages (California, Colorado, Illinois, and Maine for most employers with more than 10 employees), paid when a policy or agreement provides for it (Texas, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Iowa), or left to the policy with conditions (North Dakota, Wyoming, Maryland). Commissions are usually due once they can be calculated. On delivery, several states let the employee ask for the check by mail (Kansas, Pennsylvania by certified mail, North Carolina by trackable mail), and Utah counts a mailing postmarked the next day as on time.

General information checked November 2026 against each state's labor agency or statute site, linked in the table, not legal advice. We are not lawyers, and MCC Solutions is not a law firm. Laws, union contracts and written employment agreements can change a deadline; the state labor agency or an employment attorney can tell you how a rule applies to one person.

Common questions

Which states require a final paycheck the same day someone is fired?

On the official pages we checked: California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nevada. A few more allow a day or so: Connecticut (1 working day), District of Columbia (1 working day), Hawaii (1 working day), Minnesota (24 hours after asking), New Hampshire (72 hours), Oregon (1 working day), Utah (24 hours), Vermont (72 hours). Everywhere else the deadline is a payday or a set number of days.

Is the deadline different if the employee quits?

Often. 17 of the 51 jurisdictions here set a different rule for a quit, usually the next regular payday. Notice matters in 4 of them: California (at least 72 hours' notice); Hawaii (at least one pay period's notice); New Hampshire (at least one pay period's notice); Oregon (at least 48 hours' notice).

Do states require paying out unused vacation?

It varies more than any other part of final pay. The official pages for 18 jurisdictions say something about it, from California's rule that accrued vacation is part of final wages to states where only the employer's written policy decides. The table's Vacation column shows where a rule is stated; each state page has the wording.

What happens if an employer pays the final check late?

22 of the official pages we read state a consequence: extra wages for each day late (California, Nevada, Missouri, Oregon, Utah), a percentage or flat add-on (Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire, DC), or double or triple the wages (Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, South Carolina). Several only apply after a written demand (Colorado, Utah) or a court finding (Indiana, Virginia).

Why do some states show 'Not confirmed'?

We fill in a rule only after reading it on the state's labor agency site or its statute site. For Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio no official page we could open stated a deadline, so the row is blank rather than guessed.

Related: Final paycheck due date calculator · New hire reporting by state · Laid off in New Jersey

Letting someone go?

Employee Separation Checklist Kit

A workbook that picks the state and dates the final paycheck, a separation checklist by state, a final pay worksheet, and an exit paperwork and records log, as Word files and PDFs.

Get the kit ($15)

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