“Wait for the next payroll.” Is that allowed for your final paycheck?

Start with how the job ended.

• You were fired: final wages are generally due when you are discharged.
• You quit with at least 72 hours’ notice and left on that date: wages are generally due when you leave, if there is no written fixed-term employment contract.
• You quit with less notice: the general deadline is within 72 hours after quitting.

These are general rules. Staffing-agency work, certain industries, public employment and other special arrangements can require a different check. Read the quitting guide or fired/laid-off guide for the applicable starting point.

Ask for facts you can keep.

If you want to follow up with payroll, a short message can help establish what happened:

My employment ended on [date]. Please confirm when and how my final wages will be paid, whether the payment includes earned unused vacation, and whether a check is already available. If it is, please tell me where and how I can receive it.

Use your actual facts and keep the reply. This is an optional factual message, not a required legal demand or a reason to delay getting help. Do not include private bank details in an ordinary email.

What if the check was already ready?

An earlier valid offer of full payment can change the penalty period. A mailing request can also matter. Save the message, envelope and payment record rather than assuming the bank deposit date settles everything.

See which mailing and pickup dates matter.

You were eventually paid. Is the issue over?

Not necessarily. Receiving your wages can stop a penalty from growing without erasing a penalty that already built up. A waiting-time penalty requires willful failure to pay when due; a qualifying good-faith dispute can prevent it.

Read why money may still be owed after the paycheck arrives. If wages are still missing, use the state claim route to address those amounts as well.