When is my final paycheck due in California, and what if it is late?

Final pay disputes are among the most common wage problems we see, and California's rules are stricter than many employers expect. This page sets out the deadlines, what the last check must include, and what to do if it is late. For a broader look at wage and hour rights, see our employment law page.

How does final pay work in California, step by step?

1. The job ends. How it ends sets the deadline. A firing or layoff makes all earned wages due immediately (Labor Code section 201). A resignation makes them due on your last day if you gave at least 72 hours' notice, or within 72 hours if you did not (section 202).
2. Where you are paid. The Labor Commissioner says the place of final payment for a fired or laid off employee is the place of termination. If you quit without notice, you can ask for the check to be mailed to an address you name, and the date of mailing then counts as the date of payment (section 202(a)).
3. What the check covers. Every wage earned through your last minute of work, including overtime, earned commissions and vested vacation at your final rate of pay (section 227.3).
4. If the money does not arrive. When an employer willfully pays late, your wages continue as a penalty from the due date, counted in calendar days, for up to 30 days (section 203).
5. A wage claim or a lawsuit. The Labor Commissioner says you can file a wage claim with its office or bring a lawsuit in court for the wages and the penalty.
6. The claim process. A wage claim usually goes to a settlement conference, then to a hearing if it does not settle, and ends with an Order, Decision or Award that either side may appeal to court. Our guide to a wage claim at the Labor Commissioner's Los Angeles-area offices follows each stage.

When is the final paycheck due?

If you were let go, our checklist for the first week after being fired in California covers the other steps to take while you wait for your pay.

What has to be included in the final paycheck?

"Wages" means all compensation you have earned, not just your hourly pay for the last week. Three items are often missed:

• Vacation: vested vacation must be paid as wages at your final rate, and an employment contract or policy cannot make you forfeit it when you leave (Labor Code section 227.3). Only a collective bargaining agreement can provide otherwise.
• Commissions: the Labor Commissioner says commissions that were earned by the termination date must be calculated and paid on the same schedule as other final wages. If a commission still depends on something that has not happened yet, such as the customer's payment, it is due as soon as that happens.
• Undisputed amounts: even when the employer disputes part of what you claim, it must pay the wages that are not in dispute, and it cannot require you to sign a release to get them (Labor Code section 206, as described by the Labor Commissioner).

Two items are treated differently. Business expense reimbursements are not "wages" for this purpose, so a late reimbursement does not by itself trigger the waiting time penalty, according to the Labor Commissioner. And unused paid sick leave does not have to be paid out when you leave, although it must be reinstated if the same employer rehires you within one year (Labor Code section 246(g)).

How is the waiting time penalty calculated?

When an employer willfully fails to pay final wages on time, the wages continue as a penalty from the due date at the same rate until paid, for no more than 30 days (Labor Code section 203). The Labor Commissioner explains that "willful" does not require bad intent: it is enough that the employer knew what it was doing and failed to pay. The penalty does not apply if there is a good faith dispute that any wages are due.

The penalty is your daily rate of pay multiplied by the number of calendar days the wages were late, including weekends and holidays, up to 30 days. Regularly scheduled overtime counts toward the daily rate; occasional overtime does not. Our page on how overtime is calculated in California explains the overtime rates themselves.

Two timing rules are easy to miss. The penalty stops growing when the wages are paid or when a lawsuit is filed in court. Filing a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner does not stop it. And an employee who avoids payment, or refuses it when it is fully offered, loses the penalty for that period (section 203(a)).

You do not have to rush the penalty claim separately: a suit for waiting time penalties can be filed at any time before the deadline on the wages they come from expires (section 203(b)). The Labor Commissioner lists three years for most unpaid wage claims, two years for an oral promise to pay more than the minimum wage, and four years for a written contract.

What changes the answer?

A few facts move the deadline, the amount, or whether a penalty applies at all.

Whether a resignation turned into a firing

If you give two weeks' notice and the employer tells you to pack up and leave that day, the Labor Commissioner treats the quit as a discharge for wage purposes. All earned wages are then due immediately under section 201, not on the date in your notice. You are not owed pay for the notice period you did not work.

Whether you had a written contract for a definite period

The 72-hour rules in section 202 apply only to employees without a written contract for a definite period, so a fixed-term written contract deserves a closer look.

Your industry

The table above shows the special timing for seasonal food processing, oil drilling and motion picture production. The Labor Commissioner adds that workers at live theatrical or concert venues dispatched through a hiring hall may have final pay timing set by their collective bargaining agreement (section 201.9).

Whether there is a good faith dispute

The Labor Commissioner explains that a good faith dispute exists when the employer presents a defense, based in law or fact, which would defeat the claim if it succeeded. A defense that is unsupported by evidence, unreasonable or made in bad faith does not count. Even with a real dispute, the employer must still pay what is not disputed, or it loses the good faith defense.

How the payment reaches you

If you gave 72 hours' notice and the employer mails the check later, the Labor Commissioner says the day you receive it, not the postmark, is the date of payment. If you quit without notice and asked for mailing, the date of mailing counts (section 202(a)). The Labor Commissioner also says a direct deposit authorization ends when employment ends unless you voluntarily authorized final pay that way (Labor Code section 213(d)).

Whether you were really an employee

The Labor Commissioner says the waiting time penalty applies to all employees, whether exempt, part-time, temporary or probationary, but not to true independent contractors or volunteers. If you were paid as a contractor but worked like an employee, our page on whether you are an employee or an independent contractor explains the test.

A worked example

For example, imagine a hypothetical warehouse lead in Glendale who works 8-hour days, five days a week, at $24 an hour. He is fired on a Thursday afternoon. His manager tells him the final check, including his 40 hours of unused vacation, will come with the regular payroll on the 15th, which is 11 days later.

Because he was fired, all of his earned wages, including the vacation at his final rate, were due on Thursday at the place he was let go (sections 201 and 227.3), and waiting for the regular payroll is not an excuse the Labor Commissioner accepts. His daily rate is 8 hours at $24, or $192. If the employer's delay was willful and there was no good faith dispute, the penalty would be counted in calendar days from Thursday until he is paid, including the weekend, and capped at 30 days.

He writes down the date and time of the firing, keeps the text message about the 15th and asks in writing for his payroll records. None of this tells him what he will recover; it tells him what to document while he decides between a wage claim and a lawsuit.

Common mistakes with a late final paycheck

• Accepting "you'll get it on the next payday." For a firing or layoff, the law says immediately. The Labor Commissioner rejects that excuse, along with payroll being handled out of state and the employer being unable to pay.
• Forgetting vacation and commissions. Vested vacation and earned commissions are part of final wages, so a check for hours alone may be short.
• Signing a release to get paid. An employer may not require a release of a wage claim unless the wages have been paid, and such a release is void (Labor Code section 206.5). If a release comes with a severance offer, read our guide on whether to sign a severance agreement first.
• Assuming a wage claim freezes the penalty. Only payment or a lawsuit in court stops it from growing.
• Avoiding the check. If the employer fully offers payment and you put off picking it up, you lose the penalty for the days you avoided it.

What to do this week

1. Write down the date and time your job ended, who ended it, and whether you were fired, laid off, or quit with or without 72 hours' notice.
2. Gather your last pay stubs, schedule, vacation balance and commission statements.
3. Ask in writing for your final pay, and give a mailing address if you quit without notice.
4. Request your payroll records in writing; our page on getting your personnel file and payroll records has the deadlines the employer must meet.
5. Count the calendar days since the due date and work out your daily rate of pay.
6. Check the time limits in our table of employment claim deadlines in California, especially if other wages were also unpaid.
7. Compare the two routes on our page about filing a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner or a lawsuit. The Labor Commissioner offices closest to Glendale are in Los Angeles (320 W. Fourth Street, Suite 450) and Van Nuys (6150 Van Nuys Blvd., Room 206).

Frequently asked questions

Does my employer have to pay out unused sick leave?

No. Labor Code section 246(g) says an employer does not have to pay for accrued, unused paid sick days at separation. If the same employer rehires you within one year, the unused days must be reinstated.

Is one month's salary the same as 30 days' wages?

No. The Labor Commissioner computes a salaried worker's daily rate from the yearly salary divided by 52 weeks and then by the days worked each week. Because the penalty counts up to 30 calendar days at that daily rate, the maximum is more than one month's salary. Salaried workers who think they were wrongly denied overtime can read whether a salaried job is really exempt from overtime.

Can my employer hold my check because I owe the company money?

No. The Labor Commissioner lists "you still owe us money" among the reasons that do not excuse late final pay. Any debt is a separate matter between you and the employer.

What other penalties can come with late final pay?

Late final pay is often one of several violations, such as unpaid overtime, missed breaks or inaccurate pay stubs. Our overview of the penalties a California employer can owe for wage violations sets them out side by side.

Who pays the lawyer if I sue for my final wages?

In a court case for unpaid wages, Labor Code section 218.5 lets the court award attorney's fees to the winning side when fees are requested at the start, but an employer that wins gets fees only if the employee sued in bad faith. Our page on who pays the lawyer in a California employment case explains the other fee rules.

How can Glendale Law help with unpaid final wages?

We review pay records, schedules and commission plans to work out what was owed on the last day and how late it arrived. We can contact the employer, prepare a wage claim, or pursue the claim in court when that fits the case better. Workers in Glendale and nearby cities can read about the local agencies and courts on our Glendale employment lawyer page. Call (818) 244-9000 or request a consultation.