If you get fired or laid off from your job in California, Labor Code § 201 requires your company to provide your final paycheck immediately. The company cannot wait until the next scheduled payday or opt to pay you at some later date. You must be paid out on your last day of work.
However, employers have 72 hours to deliver final paychecks to seasonal employees who cure, can, or dry fruit, vegetables, or fish.
Legal Analysis
In California, employees fired or laid off are entitled to receive their final paycheck immediately. The only exception is for seasonal employees in the industry of curing, canning, or drying fruit, vegetables or fish – they must receive their final paycheck within 72 hours of discharge.1
Final paychecks must also include any unused paid time off. Though employees can elect to defer payment of paid time off to the next calendar year for retirement fund contributions.2
Employers who fail to give discharged employees their final paycheck on time must pay the former employee their regular wage for each day the final paycheck is late (up to 30 days). In addition, discharged employees are entitled to interest on their unpaid wages and any reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs incurred from bringing a wage and hour lawsuit against the former employer.3
Frequently-asked-questions
If I quit, when do I get my final paycheck in California?
If you resign without giving notice, your employer has 72 hours to pay you under Labor Code 201. Otherwise, your employer must give you your final paycheck immediately when you stop work.4
What happens to my unused vacation time?
If you still have paid vacation time left over when you quit or are terminated, your employer must pay you for it at your regular rate of pay in your final paycheck. Under California law, unused vacation time is treated like wages.5
What can I do if I do not get my final paycheck?
If your employer does not give you your final paycheck, you can file a wage claim with the California Labor Commissioner and/or file a wage and hour lawsuit.
In addition to recovering back pay, you may also be able to get waiting time penalties, equal to your regular rate of pay for each day your employer is late to pay (up to 30 days).6
Legal References
- California Labor Code 201 LC –Discharge of employee; Immediate payment; Seasonal employment.
The full text of the statute reads as follows:
201. (a) If an employer discharges an employee, the wages earned and unpaid at the time of discharge are due and payable immediately. An employer who lays off a group of employees by reason of the termination of seasonal employment in the curing, canning, or drying of any variety of perishable fruit, fish, or vegetables, shall be deemed to have made immediate payment when the wages of said employees are paid within a reasonable time as necessary for computation and payment thereof; provided, however, that the reasonable time shall not exceed 72 hours, and further provided that payment shall be made by mail to any employee who so requests and designates a mailing address therefor.
(b) Notwithstanding any other law, the state employer shall be deemed to have made an immediate payment of wages under this section for any unused or accumulated vacation, annual leave, holiday leave, or time off to which the employee is entitled by reason of previous overtime work where compensating time off was given by the appointing power, provided, at least five workdays prior to his or her final day of employment, the employee submits a written election to his or her appointing power authorizing the state employer to tender payment for any or all leave to be contributed on a pretax basis or a Roth basis, in the year of discharge, to the employee’s account in a state-sponsored supplemental retirement plan as described under Sections 401(k), 403(b), or 457 of the Internal Revenue Code provided the plan allows those contributions. The contribution shall be deposited into the employee’s 401(k), 403(b), or 457 plan account no later than two and one-half months after the employee’s discharge from employment. This section is not intended to authorize contributions in excess of the annual deferral limits imposed under federal and state law or the provisions of the supplemental retirement plan itself.
(c) Notwithstanding any other law, when the state employer discharges an employee, the employee may, at least five workdays prior to his or her final day of employment, submit a written election to his or her appointing power authorizing the state employer to defer into the next calendar year payment of any or all of the employee’s unused or accumulated vacation, annual leave, holiday leave, or time off to which the employee is entitled by reason of previous overtime work where compensating time off was given by the appointing power. An employee electing to defer payment into the next calendar year under this section may do any of the following:
(1) Contribute the entire payment to his or her 401(k), 403(b), or 457 plan account.
(A) This election is only available if the employee is terminated from service on or after November 1 of the calendar year of his or her termination.
(B) The contributions shall be deposited into an applicable plan account no later than two and one-half months after the employee’s last day of employment.(2) Contribute any portion of the deferred payment to his or her 401(k), 403(b), or 457 plan account and receive cash payment for the remaining noncontributed unused leave.
(A) An employee is eligible to defer a portion of the deferred payment into a 401(k), 403(b), or 457 plan account only if the employee’s date of termination from service was on or after November 1 of the calendar year of his or her termination.
(B) For the portion deferred into a 401(k), 403(b), or 457 plan account, the contributions shall be deposited into an applicable plan account no later than two and one-half months after the employee’s last day of employment.
(C) For the portion received as a cash payment:
(i) Only that portion of leave that extends past the November pay period for the employee shall be deferred into the next calendar year.
(ii) Payments shall be tendered under this paragraph no later than February 1 in the year following the employee’s last day of employment.(3) Receive a lump-sum payment for all of the deferred unused leave as described above.
(A) Only that portion of leave that extends past the November pay period for the employee shall be deferred into the next calendar year.
(B) Payments shall be tendered under this paragraph no later than February 1 in the year following the employee’s last day of employment.(d) This section is not intended to authorize contributions in excess of the annual deferral limits imposed under federal and state law or the provisions of the supplemental retirement plan itself.
- Same. McLean v. State of California (Cal., 2016), 206 Cal. Rptr. 3d 545, 377 P.3d 796, 1 Cal. 5th 615.
- . California Labor Code 1194. Mamika v. Barca (1998) 68 Cal.App4th 487. Vasquez v. San Miguel Produce, Inc. (Cal. App. 2d Dist., 2019), 242 Cal. Rptr. 3d 852, 31 Cal. App. 5th 810.
- See note 1.
- Labor Code 227.3 LC.
- Labor Code 203 LC.