When your final paycheck is due in Tennessee
In Tennessee, if you are fired or laid off, your final paycheck is due by the next regular payday or within 21 days, whichever is later. The same rule applies if you quit.
- Fired or laid off
- Next regular payday or 21 days, whichever is later
- If you quit
- Same as fired or laid off
- Unused vacation
- Final pay must include vacation pay owed under company policy or a labor agreement; the law does not require employers to offer vacation.
The final-pay rule is in subsection (g); the vacation rule is in subsection (a)(4).
The law
Tenn. Code § 50-2-103. Read the statute or the state agency’s page.
Checked in October 2026 against a published copy of the statute, because the official code site was unavailable. 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
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- Washington, D.C.
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
General information about Tennessee 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.