When your final paycheck is due in Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania, if you are fired or laid off, your final paycheck is due on the next regular payday. The same rule applies if you quit.
- Fired or laid off
- Next regular payday
- If you quit
- Same as fired or laid off
- If the employer pays late
- If wages are unpaid 30 days past the payday with no good-faith dispute, liquidated damages of 25% of the wages due or $500, whichever is greater.
The employee can ask for payment by certified mail.
The law
43 P.S. §§ 260.5, 260.10 (Wage Payment and Collection Law, §§ 5 and 10). 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
- Louisiana
- 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
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- Washington, D.C.
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
General information about Pennsylvania 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.