When is your final paycheck due in New York?

In New York your final wages are due by the regular payday for the pay period in which you were let go, and you must be told in writing about the termination and your benefits within five working days. Where employment is terminated, the employer must pay the wages no later than the regular pay day for the pay period during which the termination occurred. Payment must be made by mail if the employee requests it. A terminated employee must also be notified in writing, no more than five working days after the termination, of the exact termination date and the exact date benefits are canceled.

Regular pay day for the pay period in which employment ended.

New York has no statute compelling a vacation payout. It treats vacation as a benefit or wage supplement, so the employer's own agreement or written policy decides whether accrued time is paid out — and once the policy provides for payout, that payment is enforceable as a wage supplement rather than a favor. Where accrued vacation has been earned and there is no valid written forfeiture policy, the Department of Labor's position is that it must generally be paid. Where the employer has a written policy setting out forfeiture conditions and has communicated it to employees, that policy can control.

New York starts from a flat prohibition — no employer shall make any deduction from wages — and then lists narrow exceptions: deductions required by law, and a closed list of things you authorized in writing for your own benefit, such as insurance premiums, pension contributions, union dues, transit passes or childcare. Recovering an overpayment or a wage advance is permitted only within the regulator's rules. Deducting for damaged goods or unreturned equipment is not on the list.

Six years to bring an action on a liability imposed by the labor article — one of the longest wage-claim windows in the country. Wages and liquidated damages that accrued in the six years before you file are recoverable.

Where a wage claim succeeds, section 198 generally allows liquidated damages equal to 100% of the wages found to be due, on top of the wages themselves, plus interest, costs and reasonable attorney's fees. Liquidated damages are not automatic on a missed payday: they are awarded in a claim or court action, and are unavailable where the employer proves a good-faith basis for believing its underpayment complied with the law.

In writing, no more than five working days after your termination date, stating the exact date employment ended and the exact date benefits are canceled. That second date is what you need for working out health coverage and a COBRA election window.

A written agreement, signed by both sides, kept on file for at least three years, and covering what is payable if either party ends the employment. Commissions must be paid at least monthly and no later than the last day of the month after they were earned. If the employer cannot produce those written terms when the commissioner asks, a presumption arises that the terms you have presented are the agreed terms.

No. Where a wage claim succeeds, Labor Law § 198 generally allows liquidated damages equal to 100% of the wages found due, plus interest, costs and fees — but they are not automatic. An employer that proves a good-faith basis for believing its underpayment complied with the law can defeat them, and they are awarded through a claim or court action rather than the moment a payday passes.