When your final paycheck is due in Maryland
In Maryland, if you are fired or laid off, your final paycheck is due on or before the day you would have been paid if still employed. The same rule applies if you quit.
- Fired or laid off
- On or before the day the employee would have been paid if still employed
- If you quit
- Same as fired or laid off
- If the employer pays late
- If wages were withheld without a bona fide dispute, a court may award up to 3 times the wages plus attorney fees.
- Unused vacation
- Accrued leave must be paid unless the employer has a written policy limiting it and told the employee about it when hired.
- Filing a wage claim
- File a wage claim with the Maryland Division of Labor and Industry, Employment Standards Service.
The law
Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. §§ 3-505, 3-507.2. Read the statute or the state agency’s page.
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, file a wage claim with the agency listed above. 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
- Louisiana
- Maine
- 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 Maryland 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.