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You quit in New York — when is your final paycheck due?

Employers often tell departing employees that quitting forfeits the last paycheck, or that pay will arrive "when payroll gets to it". Neither is the law in New York.

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.

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. Your written resignation and the date it was delivered — email timestamps are enough, and the delivery date is what starts the clock.
  2. Whether you gave notice, and how much: some states shorten or lengthen the deadline based on notice, and the letter has to state it accurately.
  3. Your final timesheet or shift records for the last pay period, including any hours worked after you announced you were leaving.
  4. Any policy the employer says forfeits pay, PTO or commissions. Ask for it in writing — that request is itself part of the record.

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

Does giving notice change my final pay date in New York?

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.

Can my employer hold my last check until I return equipment in New York?

Not lawfully as a condition of wages. Deductions and offsets are limited, and holding earned wages to force the return of property is the kind of self-help that turns a wage claim into a penalty claim.

Other situations in New York

being fired · 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.