California Final Paycheck Law: When It's Due

Fired or laid off: same day

When an employer ends the job, Labor Code 201 says the wages you've earned and haven't been paid are "due and payable immediately." That means on your last day, at the place you were let go. It doesn't matter whether you were fired for cause, laid off in a reduction in force, or let go at the end of a temporary assignment: a layoff counts as a discharge. The employer can't hold the check until the next scheduled payday or until you return a laptop or a uniform.

The reason you were let go doesn't change any of this. Someone fired for misconduct is owed the same final wages, on the same deadline, as someone laid off for budget reasons.

Quitting with or without notice

If you quit, Labor Code 202 sets two different deadlines depending on your notice:

• At least 72 hours' notice: your final pay is due on your last day, provided you leave on the date you said you would.
• Less than 72 hours' notice, or none: your final pay is due within 72 hours of quitting.

The 72-hour window doesn't pause for weekends or holidays. Section 202 has no exclusion for them. Compare Labor Code 201.7 for oil-drilling layoffs, which expressly excludes Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. So if you walk out on a Friday afternoon, the deadline is the following Monday afternoon.

If you quit without notice, you can ask for the check to be mailed to an address you give your employer. When you do, the date it's mailed counts as the payment date.

A few industries have their own final-pay timing under the Labor Code: Seasonal employment curing, canning or drying perishable fruit, fish or vegetables (up to 72 hours after layoff); Motion picture industry (by the next regular payday); Oil drilling (within 24 hours after discharge, excluding weekends/holidays); Live theatrical or concert venue workers dispatched through a hiring hall under a collective bargaining agreement (by the next regular payday).

Vacation and PTO must be paid out

This is the rule that surprises people who've worked in other states. In California, vacation you've earned is wages. Labor Code 227.3 requires all vested vacation to be paid out at your final rate of pay when you leave, and it bans policies that forfeit earned vacation at separation. A "use it or lose it" rule that wipes out earned time is not allowed.

Two details matter here. First, it's paid at your final rate. If you earned the hours at $22 an hour and left at $26, you get $26 for each hour. Second, employers can lawfully put a cap on accrual, so you stop earning more once you hit the cap. That's different from taking away hours you've already earned, which they can't do. A union contract can set different vacation rules.

If your employer lumps vacation and sick days into one PTO bank, the whole bank is treated as vacation and gets paid out.

Sick leave isn't (unless it's PTO)

Paid sick leave tracked separately from vacation is different. Labor Code 246(g) says an employer doesn't have to pay out accrued, unused sick days when you quit, retire or are let go. The one protection is on rehire: if you come back to the same employer within a year, your old unused sick days must be reinstated.

So the practical question is how your employer tracks time off. A separate sick-leave balance usually goes away with the job. A single PTO balance must be paid out.

The waiting time penalty (30 days)

If final wages are late, Labor Code 203 adds a penalty on top of the wages themselves. It's your daily rate of pay for each day the wages stay unpaid, up to 30 days. The Labor Commissioner's Office explains that those are calendar days, so weekends, holidays and days you wouldn't have worked all count.

Some points from the Labor Commissioner's guidance that decide real cases:

• "Willful" is a low bar. The employer doesn't have to mean harm. It only has to know it didn't pay when the law required it. A good-faith dispute over whether wages are owed at all can defeat the penalty.
• Your daily rate usually means your regular hours. Overtime counts only if it was regularly scheduled every week. Occasional overtime is left out.
• It stops when you're paid, or when the employer offers payment and you refuse it or stay away to avoid it. Filing a lawsuit also stops it. Filing a claim with the Labor Commissioner does not.
• It isn't wages, so no payroll deductions come out of it.

What to do if you weren't paid

Start with a written request to your former employer for the unpaid wages and vacation, listing the amounts and dates. Keep copies of your pay stubs and your last schedule. If that doesn't work, you can file a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner's Office (the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement). Claims can be filed online, by email, by mail or in person, and the office handles claims regardless of immigration status.

Watch the deadlines. The Labor Commissioner's Office lists three years for most wage violations, including minimum wage, overtime, meal and rest breaks and sick leave, and four years for claims based on a written contract. The claim can include the waiting time penalty along with the wages.

Run your numbers

Our Final Paycheck & Vacation Payout Calculator takes how the job ended, your last day and your pay rate. It gives you the legal due date, the wages and vacation you're owed, and any waiting time penalty so far. If you already know how many days late the check was, the Waiting Time Penalty Calculator handles just the penalty.

This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Contracts, union agreements and industry rules can change the answer. For your situation, contact the Labor Commissioner's Office or an employment attorney.