Final Pay
After you quit or are terminated, your employer has a reasonable time to pay you your last check, usually within 30 days. The most common requirement is that you be paid by the next payday when you would have been paid. Some states may require that the employer pay you your final pay within a shorter or more specific period of time, either immediately or within a few days of discharge. There can be different requirements depending on whether you were fired or you quit voluntarily: some states require terminated employees to be paid immediately, while those who resign must wait until the next payday.
However, if you give your employer a two-week notice of the date of your termination, your employer can fire you before the end of those two weeks and not pay you. Most employees, unless under a contractual agreement, are employees at will and can be terminated at any time. The employment-at-will doctrine provides that both the employer and the employee can end the employment relationship at any time without notice or reason, as long as it’s not illegal. Generally, companies will honor the two-week notice and pay the employee for the last two weeks even if the employer does not allow the employee to work during that time period. However, there is no federal law which requires the employer to pay employees or even allow them to work during that two-week notice period.
In addition, unless required to do so under an employment contract, collective bargaining agreement, or other legally binding agreement, an employer is not required to pay employees for accrued sick time or personal leave when they leave their employment. In this respect, accrued sick time is unlike accrued vacation time which, California state law requires that employers are required to include any unused vacation pay that has accrued in your final paycheck.
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