Skip to main content

The Final Paycheck of Employees: How Each State Handles Voluntary & Involuntary Termination Payment Procedures


As a follow up to the prior note on how Texas handles the final pay check of employees, with different rules depending upon whether the employee left the employment voluntarily or involuntarily, it is important to note how each state handles the matter.





When the Employee Leaves Voluntarily:

  • Payment Due Immediately:  Illinois (if possible, but not later than next pay day); Oregon (if employee gave 48 hours notice; within five days or next pay period, whichever comes first, if no notice given); West Virginia (if employee gave one pay day's notice; if no notice, by next scheduled pay day)
  • Payment Due Within 72 hours:  California (or immediately if employee gave at least seventy two hours notice)
  • Payment Due Within 5 Working Days:  Wyoming
  • Payment Due at the Next Pay Period:  Alaska (or within three days after employee gives notice); Arizona; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; District of Columbia (or within seven days, whichever is sooner); Hawaii (or immediately if employee gave one pay period's notice); Idaho (or within ten days, whichever is sooner); Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky (or within fourteen days, whichever is later); Louisiana (or within fifteen days, whichever is sooner); Maine (or within two weeks of demand, whichever is sooner); Maryland; Massachusetts (if no scheduled pay day, then by the following Saturday); Michigan; Minnesota; Montana (or within fifteen days, whichever is sooner); Nebraska (or within two weeks, whichever is sooner); Nevada (or within seven days, whichever is sooner); New Hampshire (or within seventy two hours if employee gave a pay period's notice); New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; North Dakota; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; South Dakota (or when employee returns employer's property); Tennessee (or within twenty one days, whichever is later); Texas; Utah; Vermont (if no scheduled pay day, the next Friday); Virginia; Washington; Wisconsin
  • First of the Month for Wages Earned in the First Half of Prior Month; Fifteenth of the Month for Wages Earned in Second Half of Prior Month:  Ohio
  • No Statute:  Alabama; Arkansas; Florida; Georgia; Mississippi; Missouri; South Carolina


When the Employee Leaves Involuntarily:

  • Payment Due Immediately: California; Colorado; Hawaii (or next business day if conditions do not permit immediate payment); Illinois (if possible, but no later than next scheduled pay day); Massachusetts; Minnesota; Missouri; Montana; Nevada
  • Payment Due Next Business Day After Discharge:  Connecticut; District of Columbia; Oregon; Utah (within 24 hours)
  • Payment Due Within 3 Days From Date of Discharge:  Alaska; New Hampshire (specifically, seventy two hours from the discharge); Vermont (within seventy two hours)
  • Payment Due Within 5 Days From Date of Discharge:  New Mexico; Wyoming (within five working days)
  • Payment Due Within 6 Days From Date of Discharge:  Texas
  • Payment Due Within 7 Days From Date of Discharge:  Arizona (or by the next pay period, whichever is sooner); Arkansas
  • Payment Due at the Next Scheduled Pay Day:  Delaware; Idaho (or within next ten days, whichever is sooner); Indiana; Iowa; Kentucky (or within next fourteen days, whichever is later); Louisiana (or within next fifteen days, whichever is sooner); Maine (or within two weeks after demand, whichever is sooner); Maryland; Michigan; Nebraska (or within two weeks, whichever is sooner); New Jersey; New York; North Carolina; North Dakota (or within fifteen days, whichever is sooner); Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; South Carolina (or within forty eight hours of discharge, but in no event later than thirty days); South Dakota (or when employee returns employer's property); Tennessee (or within twenty one days, whichever is later); Virginia; Washington; West Virginia (or four business days, whichever is sooner); Wisconsin (or within one month, whichever is sooner)
  • First of the Month for Wages Earned in the First Half of Prior Month; Fifteenth of the Month for Wages Earned in Second Half of Prior Month:  Ohio
  • No Statute:  Alabama; Florida; Georgia; Mississippi


Note the differences among states in regard to whether the separation is voluntary or involuntary.  It is vital that employers keep these differences in mind or risk being subject to litigation by former employees.  

In particular, employers with employees in multiple states need to be aware of these differences.  Do not assume that because one state handles the final pay check of employees one way, that means that another state will handle the matter the same way. Remaining mindful of these differences can go a long way in limiting potential litigation.


Special thanks to Nolo for providing some information on the topic:  http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/final-paycheck-employee-rights-chart-29882.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum, it was noted that emplo
Post a Comment
Read more

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa
Post a Comment
Read more

Utah Non-Compete Bill Falters in House

Last month, a non-compete bill sponsored by Representative Brian Greene (Republican from Pleasant Grove) & up for vote in the Utah House failed to make it through the Legislature.  The bill sought to ban enforcement of non-competes if they came after a worker was already employed, given no compensation (such as a bonus or promotion) for signing the non-compete, and laid off within six months.  However, by a 22 - 49 vote, the bill was resoundingly defeated after some business groups lobbied to kill the non-compete bill.  One group in particular, The Free Enterprise Utah coalition, argued that the Utah State Legislature should hold off on any changes to non compete laws in the state until a survey about non competes was done among Utah businesses.  Representative Greene had countered this claim and argued that a survey was not needed to show that the current non compete laws in the states allowed many businesses, including some small high tech companies in the state, to per
Post a Comment
Read more