When your final paycheck is due in Louisiana
In Louisiana, if you are fired or laid off, your final paycheck is due by the next regular payday or within 15 days after discharge, whichever is first. If you quit, it is due by the next regular payday for the pay cycle worked or within 15 days after resignation, whichever is first.
- Fired or laid off
- Next regular payday or 15 days after discharge, whichever is first
- If you quit
- Next regular payday for the pay cycle worked or 15 days after resignation, whichever is first
- If the employer pays late
- An employer who does not comply owes the lesser of 90 days’ wages or full wages from the demand until paid, plus attorney fees; only the disputed amount and interest if the dispute was in good faith.
- Unused vacation
- Earned vacation that the employee was eligible to take under the employer’s policy counts as wages due and cannot be forfeited.
The law
La. R.S. 23:631, 23:632. Read the statute.
Checked against the statute in October 2026. Laws change, so confirm the current rule before you rely on it.
What to do next
If the deadline has passed, ask for the wages in writing first and keep a copy. The free first letter in the Wage Claim Letters kit does this. If that doesn’t work, small claims court is the usual next step. The final paycheck lookup compares states side by side.
Other states
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- Washington, D.C.
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
General information about Louisiana law, not legal advice, and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Wage Claim Letters is a self-help template kit from Kits For That.