Final Paycheck Deadline (US)
State-by-state final paycheck deadline.
Written and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software · Rules last verified · Sources · Changes & corrections
These calculators are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal, financial, or professional advice.
How the Final Paycheck Deadline (US) works
The Final Paycheck Deadline (US) calculator answers the question that sits at the top of every offboarding checklist: when are the last wages legally due? There is no federal deadline — the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that final wages be paid but does not set a date — so the answer comes entirely from state law, and it turns on two inputs. Enter the separation date, pick the state, and say whether the employee was fired or laid off versus quit. The calculator returns the governing rule and the date it produces.
Two kinds of rule come back, and they are not equally precise, so it is worth knowing which you have. Some states name a fixed count: California requires immediate payment on a discharge and gives 72 hours when an employee quits without notice, and Texas allows six days after a discharge. Where the statute states a number, the returned date is exact. The much more common pattern nationally is "next regular payday" — and that is a pointer into your own payroll calendar, not a date. The calculator has no way to know your pay cycle, so for those cases it returns a date roughly two weeks out as a stand-in for an average cycle. Read that result as a prompt to open the pay calendar and find the real pay date, not as the deadline itself.
Two limits are worth stating outright. The calculator holds checked rules for California, New York, Texas and Washington, and for Florida it reports that there is no state final-pay statute rather than inventing one; those five are ticked in the state list. Any other state returns no date at all, because final-pay rules run from the day of discharge (Massachusetts, Colorado) to the next regular payday, and guessing would be two weeks late in the strict states. And it computes the deadline only, not the amount: whether accrued and unused PTO, earned commissions, or non-discretionary bonuses have to be in that payment is a separate state-by-state question. Confirm both against current state law before a real separation, because late final pay carries penalties — California continues the employee’s daily wage for each day the payment is late, up to 30 days.
Worked example
An employee in California is discharged on Wednesday, 15 July 2026. The rule is immediate payment, so the deadline is the same day, 15 July — the check has to be ready before the meeting, not arranged afterwards. Change the termination type to a resignation with no notice and the rule becomes 72 hours, moving the deadline to Saturday, 18 July. Same employee, same date, one field different, and three days apart. If the employee resigned with at least 72 hours’ notice, choose that option and the deadline is the last day worked, 15 July, again. Run the same separation in Texas as a resignation, a next-regular-payday case, and the tool returns a date about two weeks out — a placeholder to be replaced with the actual pay date for the period containing the last day worked.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the calculator show a date about two weeks out for my state?
Because the governing rule for that state and termination type is "next regular payday," which is a pointer to your payroll calendar rather than a fixed number of days. The calculator does not ask for your pay cycle, so it substitutes a roughly two-week estimate to stand for an average cycle. Replace it with the published pay date for the pay period that contains the last day worked — under a mid-cycle separation and a biweekly cycle, that can be two weeks later than the next pay date on the wall calendar.
Which states does the calculator know explicitly?
California, New York, Texas and Washington, from their wage-payment statutes, plus Florida, which has no final-pay statute at all — the tool says so instead of giving a date. They are ticked in the state list. Any other state or DC returns no date: it used to fall back to the next-regular-payday pattern, but that is two weeks late in states such as Massachusetts that require payment on the day of discharge, so check that state’s own statute or labor department instead.
Does the deadline count business days or calendar days?
Calendar days. A 72-hour rule runs three calendar days from the separation, and a six-day rule runs six calendar days, so a Friday separation can produce a deadline over a weekend. Note that the estimate shown for next-regular-payday states does not shift for weekends or bank holidays either, whereas a real payday does move — it shifts earlier, to the last banking day before the collision, which is another reason to resolve that result against the actual pay calendar.
Is there a federal deadline for a final paycheck?
No. Federal law sets none, so every date here comes from state law. Most states also distinguish between an employee who was discharged and one who resigned, frequently with a much shorter deadline for a discharge — which is why termination type is an input rather than an assumption.
What this calculator does not do
A limitation you know about costs far less than one you find after the deadline. These are the specific things this tool cannot work out for you.
- There is no federal deadline. Every date here comes from state law, and most states distinguish between an employee who was discharged and one who resigned — which is why termination type is an input.
- Rules for accrued but unused vacation payout differ from the wage deadline itself and are not modelled.
- Only California, New York, Texas and Washington have checked rules; Florida has no final-pay statute and gets no date. Every other state returns no date rather than a guess.
- “Next regular payday” results are shown as an estimate two weeks out; replace them with your actual pay date for the period.
Where these rules come from
The periods this calculator applies are taken from the primary sources below rather than from secondary summaries. Verify against them before relying on a date that matters.
- US Department of Labor — last paycheck
Federal law sets no final-paycheck deadline; the requirement is state law.
- Cal. Lab. Code § 201–202
Discharge: immediately. Quit: within 72 hours, or on the last day with 72 hours’ notice.
- Tex. Lab. Code § 61.014
Discharge: within six days. Quit: next regular payday.
- N.Y. Lab. Law § 191(3)
Not later than the regular payday for the pay period.
- RCW 49.48.010
At the end of the established pay period.