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Fired in New York: when your last paycheck has to be paid

Being fired does not change what you are owed — it changes the deadline. In New York, final wages are due no later than the regular payday on which they would have been paid had you stayed employed (Labor Law § 191). New York does not require the employer to pay on the day of discharge.

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
N.Y. Lab. Law §§ 191, 198
If fired
Final wages are due no later than the regular payday on which they would have been paid had you stayed employed (Labor Law § 191). New York does not require the employer to pay on the day of discharge.
If you resigned
The same rule applies when you resign: final wages are due on the next regular payday. On request the employer must mail the final pay.
Late-pay penalty
Labor Law § 198: a worker who wins may recover the unpaid wages plus liquidated damages of 100% of the unpaid amount, with interest and attorney's fees. In practice that doubles the exposure on the wage figure alone.
PTO
Accrued vacation is wages in New York: it must be paid at separation unless the employer gave employees a written forfeiture policy in advance.
Small claims limit
$10,000 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 New York 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 New York State Department of Labor — Division of Labor Standards, a small claims judge — starts from those three facts. The letter is built from N.Y. Lab. Law §§ 191, 198 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 $10,000, 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 New York letter — $9.99 Free: calculate my deadline

Questions

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

Final wages are due no later than the regular payday on which they would have been paid had you stayed employed (Labor Law § 191). New York does not require the employer to pay on the day of discharge.

What can I claim on top of the wages in New York?

Labor Law § 198: a worker who wins may recover the unpaid wages plus liquidated damages of 100% of the unpaid amount, with interest and attorney's fees. In practice that doubles the exposure on the wage figure alone.

Other situations in New York

resigning · a layoff · unused PTO · unpaid commissions · all New York rules

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