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You quit in Vermont — 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 Vermont.

An employee who leaves voluntarily is paid on the last regular pay day, or if there is no regular pay day, on the following Friday.

Statute
21 V.S.A. § 342; § 347
If fired
An employee who is discharged must be paid in full within 72 hours of the discharge (21 V.S.A. § 342).
If you resigned
An employee who leaves voluntarily is paid on the last regular pay day, or if there is no regular pay day, on the following Friday.
Late-pay penalty
Vermont does not add a computable liquidated-damages formula to the wages. The remedy is the unpaid wages through the Department of Labor or small claims court, with costs where the statute allows.
PTO
Vermont treats accrued vacation as wages when the employer's policy creates the right; earned time is payable at separation unless a valid policy ends it.
Small claims limit
$5,000 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 Vermont Department of Labor — Wage and Hour, a small claims judge — starts from those three facts. The letter is built from 21 V.S.A. § 342; § 347 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 $5,000, 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 Vermont letter — $9.99 Free: calculate my deadline

Questions

Does giving notice change my final pay date in Vermont?

An employee who leaves voluntarily is paid on the last regular pay day, or if there is no regular pay day, on the following Friday.

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

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 Vermont

being fired · a layoff · unused PTO · unpaid commissions · all Vermont rules

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