Currently, employers are not required by federal law to give former employees their final paycheck immediately. However, federal law does apply if the regular payday for the last pay period an employee worked has passed and the employee has not been paid.
Generally termination laws and last paycheck laws are handled on the state level.
For example, just recently Utah amended their law to require employers to pay up to 60 days of wages as a penalty if they do not pay a terminated employee their wages within 24 hours of termination. And your State may have a similar law. Therefore, we highly recommend making sure that employers and employees understand their state's laws regarding payment of wages in the event the employee is terminated.
Here is a good link to consider if you need information related to updated state-by-state laws. It is smart practice to have a handbook or clearly written workplace policies established to set forth the behavior that is expected in the workplace.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us by phone 1-855-427-0427 or email[email protected].