Many employees assume their last paycheck comes on the next regular payday. In California, if you’re fired, the rules are much stricter than that.
If your employer terminates you, all of your final wages are generally due immediately, on your last day, not two weeks later. If you quit, the timing depends on notice: give at least 72 hours’ notice and your final pay is due on your last day; quit without notice and it’s due within 72 hours.
“Final wages” also includes any earned, unused vacation, which California treats as wages you’ve already earned and can’t lose.
Here’s the part with teeth: if an employer willfully fails to pay on time, it can owe a “waiting time” penalty, roughly a full day of your wages for every day the payment is late, up to 30 days. A late final check can turn into a meaningful sum.
If your final paycheck was late, short, or left out your unused vacation, that may be worth a closer look. At Grochow Law, we help California employees recover wages they’re owed.
