What to Expect in your Final Pay Check as a California Employee
California labor laws are designed to give employees certain assurances. For instance, if you are terminated, laid off or quit your job, your employer must pay you for all of your time worked and cash out all of your unused vacation time within 24-72 hours of your last day. If they do not do this properly, California labor laws impose penalties on the employer for every day they are late.
Termination/ Laid off
If you are terminated or laid off your final pay, including your vacation pay or PTO, is owed to you within 24 hours of termination. If you are owed commissions your employer can pay those out to you on the regularly scheduled date without penalty. Sick time is not required by law to be paid out monetarily .
Quit
If you are quitting and you give your employer 72 hours of notice or more, they must follow the same guidelines as above and pay you within 24 hours. If you quit without giving your employer at least 72 hours of notice, your employer has 72 hours from the time they are notified of your resignation to give you all of your final wages and any unused vacation/ PTO
The following 3 things will likely not be included in your final pay:
1. Commissions that are regularly not due yet. If they are usually set to be paid at a later date the company can pay you at that time. I.E. Quarterly payouts, after month end, etc.
2. Reimbursable expenses that are regularly not due yet. If they are usually set to be paid at a later date the company can pay you at that time. I.E. 30 days from the date the employees turns them in.
3. Sick time- sick time is not required by law to be cashed out to employees; only PTO or vacation is due.
Penalties
If your final pay is not received in a timely manner the employer must pay the employee 1 day’s worth of wages for every day they are late, up to 30 days. There are various ways to calculate what 1 days worth of wages are. For examples please visit the following DLSE FAQ
Labor law is complex; if you have any questions regarding your employment it is recommended that you contact a California labor law attorney who can help you understand your rights and in many cases will review your situation without charge.
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