In this series, we will explore some of the ways states vary from one another in their employment laws.

It's time to terminate an employee. Perhaps they were a consistently poor performer, and you have known for months that this day would come. Or perhaps an employee committed gross misconduct today and the need for termination is sudden and unexpected. Either way, are you prepared to pay your terminated employee their final paycheck right away? In eight states, you need to be.

Most states allow employers a reasonable time to pay a terminated employee their final wages. The next regularly-scheduled payday is a common deadline, but even less-patient states tend to give employers at least several days to pay final wages. But California, Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, and Nevada all require employers to pay final wages to an employee on the date of their termination. 

There are a few caveats to this rule. In Colorado and Hawaii, if an employer’s payroll unit is not operational on the termination date or there is some other circumstance that makes immediate payment impossible, the employer may have until the following business day to pay. In Massachusetts, employers in Boston may wait to pay until payrolls, bills, and accounts are certified. Otherwise, employers in these states need to be prepared to pay final wages on the termination date without exception.

This can put employers in a logistical bind. What do you do, for example, if an employee punches a coworker at 4:55 before you close for the day at 5:00 and your payroll staff is already gone for the day? In situations like this, you may need to wait until the following day to terminate your fighting employee.