HELP! Terming a CA employee today, but we won't have a check for her until tomorrow...Need answers
efeldman
146 Posts
Payroll (in MA) did not process the final paycheck in time, and we need to terminate a CA-based employee today for performance issues. Can we terminate her without giving her her check until tomorrow? She would be paid through tomorrow on the check; just terminated today. Any ideas???
Comments
According to the CA DOL website payment is due upon discharge.
An employee who is discharged must be paid all of his or her wages, including accrued vacation, immediately at the time of termination. Labor Code Sections 201 and 227.3
If you don't have the check ready you can be subject to waiting fines. But if you pay her for the extra day you should be fine as long as she gets the check tomorrow. As a side note, dont forget the accrued vacation time earned through the date of termination.
This website will help you with time line of payments:
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Paydays.htm
We figured it out. All is well again. Thank you. [H]
I think I ran into this before when I was in Oregon with CA employees. I would suspend for 24 hours, informing the employee their employment will be terminated at the end of the suspension and supply them with their check at that time. If legal says there's a problem with that, suspend them with pay: there's no way there's a problem with that. I believe the former is acceptable under California law. In any event, it's never a good idea to test the system by violating a state's payday law.
What was the solution you went with?