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Was my final paycheck late?

In California, final wages are generally due on your last day if you are fired or laid off, and within 72 hours if you quit without notice (Labor Code §§201–202). If an employer willfully pays late, Labor Code §203 allows a waiting-time penalty of one day's wages for each day late, up to 30 days. Enter your dates to see when your pay was due and a rough estimate.

Good to know

The penalty counts calendar days, including weekends and holidays, and stops when the wages are paid in full or a lawsuit is filed, with a maximum of 30 days. A claim with the Labor Commissioner does not stop it from running. If you asked for your final pay to be mailed, the date you received it generally counts.

Your daily rate is usually your hourly rate times the hours you normally work in a day, including regularly scheduled overtime. For salaried or commission pay the calculation is more involved, so treat the estimate as a starting point.

The penalty applies only if the failure to pay was willful. An employer may avoid it if there is a good-faith dispute about whether the wages are owed. Special timing rules apply in some industries, for example seasonal agricultural work, motion picture production and oil drilling, and to some layoffs.

The penalty is separate from the unpaid wages themselves. Earned and unused vacation is generally part of final wages in California.

This calculator gives general information based on the rules that apply in California as of October 2026. It is not legal advice and does not replace a review of your documents by an attorney. We are not a law firm and do not give legal advice. We connect you with independent attorneys licensed in California. Submitting this form does not create an attorney-client relationship; that only happens when you sign an engagement agreement with an attorney.