Home › Final paycheck letters › Maine › fired

Fired in Maine: when your last paycheck has to be paid

Being fired does not change what you are owed — it changes the deadline. In Maine, wages must be paid within a reasonable time after demand: the earlier of the next regular payday or two weeks after the demand (26 M.R.S. § 626).

If that date has passed and the money has not arrived, you are no longer asking for a favour; you are recording a missed legal deadline. That is the difference a demand letter makes.

Statute
26 M.R.S. § 626
If fired
Wages must be paid within a reasonable time after demand: the earlier of the next regular payday or two weeks after the demand (26 M.R.S. § 626).
If you resigned
Resignation follows the same rule: the earlier of the next regular payday or two weeks after your demand.
Late-pay penalty
26 M.R.S. § 626: an employer that fails to pay wages and accrued vacation as required is liable for twice the amount of the unpaid wages as liquidated damages, plus costs of suit including a reasonable attorney's fee.
PTO
Maine treats accrued vacation as wages: § 626 expressly covers unpaid vacation pay at separation.
Small claims limit
$6,000 for an individual
Last verified
2026-11-03 single source

What to put in the file before you write anything

  1. The exact date of your separation as it appears on the termination notice, the last timecard, or the last email from the employer — not the date you were told.
  2. Your final pay stub, or the absence of one, plus your last two regular stubs to prove the rate of pay.
  3. Any text, email or letter that states the reason for the termination. In Maine the deadline does not depend on the reason, but the record does.
  4. A screenshot of the payroll portal showing the last payment date, so the gap is documented by the employer's own system.

What the letter does that a phone call cannot

A demand letter fixes three things at once: the amount, the date each item was due, and the date the employer was on notice. Every forum that can help you — the Maine Department of Labor — Wage and Hour, a small claims judge — starts from those three facts. The letter is built from 26 M.R.S. § 626 and your own figures, so the deadline it states is the one that applies to your separation, not a generic thirty days.

If the amount fits inside $6,000, small claims court is usually faster than an agency queue; if it does not, the agency route and a demand first is the cheaper path.

Build the Maine letter — $9.99 Free: calculate my deadline

Questions

Can my employer wait until the next payday after firing me in Maine?

Wages must be paid within a reasonable time after demand: the earlier of the next regular payday or two weeks after the demand (26 M.R.S. § 626).

What can I claim on top of the wages in Maine?

26 M.R.S. § 626: an employer that fails to pay wages and accrued vacation as required is liable for twice the amount of the unpaid wages as liquidated damages, plus costs of suit including a reasonable attorney's fee.

Other situations in Maine

resigning · a layoff · unused PTO · unpaid commissions · all Maine rules

Reviewed 2026-11-03 against the sources listed on the Maine page. This is a self-help document tool, not legal advice, and no outcome is guaranteed.