California Pay Periods: Schedules, Final Checks, and Penalties

In California, pay periods must run at least twice a month for most workers, and Labor Code Section 204 pins each payday to a specific deadline based on when the work was performed.¹ Some salaried employees can be paid monthly, a handful of industries follow their own schedules, and the timeline collapses to hours (not days) once employment ends.

The Twice-Monthly Baseline

Section 204 requires that wages be due and payable twice during each calendar month on days the employer designates in advance as regular paydays.¹ Most private-sector employees fall under this rule. Employers can meet it with a semimonthly schedule (two fixed dates each month), a biweekly schedule (every 14 days), or weekly pay, since weekly exceeds the minimum frequency.

Semimonthly Deadlines: The 26th and the 10th

Employers running a semimonthly schedule follow calendar-specific deadlines. Wages earned from the 1st through the 15th are due no later than the 26th of that same month. Wages earned from the 16th through the last day of the month must be paid by the 10th of the following month.² That builds in roughly a 10-day processing window without letting a paycheck slide too far past the work it covers.

Weekly, Biweekly, and Off-Cycle Schedules

If pay runs weekly, biweekly, or on a semimonthly cycle that doesn’t align with the 1st-through-15th / 16th-through-last-day split, a simpler rule applies: wages must be paid within seven calendar days after the close of the payroll period.¹ A biweekly period closing on a Friday must be paid out by the following Friday.

Overtime May Arrive on the Next Check

Overtime pay does not have to land with the regular wages it accompanies. Section 204 allows wages for hours worked beyond the normal work period to be paid no later than the payday for the next regular payroll period.¹ Overtime worked in the first half of a semimonthly period may show up on the following check, and the subsequent pay stub must itemize those hours as a correction.

Monthly Pay for Exempt Employees

Certain salaried workers can be paid just once a month. This option is limited to employees who qualify as exempt under California law: executive, administrative, or professional roles paying at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work.² For 2026, that comes out to an annual salary of at least $70,304, based on the new $16.90-per-hour minimum wage.³

When a monthly schedule applies, payment is due on or before the 26th of the month in which the work is performed, and the check must cover the entire calendar month — including the days between payday and month-end that haven’t been worked yet.⁴ Exempt employees can be paid more often; the monthly option is a ceiling, not a floor.

Industry Exceptions

Agricultural, Horticultural, and Domestic Workers

Labor Code Section 205 allows agricultural, horticultural, and stock-raising employees who receive board and lodging from their employer to be paid once per calendar month, with no more than 31 days between paydays. Household domestic workers who live with their employer follow the same monthly rule. Workers hired through a farm labor contractor are the exception within the exception: they must be paid at least once every week.⁵

Agricultural employees not covered by Section 205 (those without board and lodging, for example) fall under Section 205.5 and must be paid twice monthly on tighter deadlines than the standard semimonthly windows. Wages for the 1st through the 15th are due between the 16th and the 22nd; wages for the 16th through month-end are due between the 1st and the 7th of the following month.⁶

Commission-Paid Vehicle Dealer Employees

Employees who earn commissions at a business licensed as a vehicle dealer by the DMV may be paid once per calendar month on a pre-designated payday. A collective bargaining agreement can override that schedule if it sets its own payment dates.⁷

When Payday Falls on a Holiday

If your regular payday lands on a holiday and the employer is closed, California allows payment on the next business day.² Paying the business day before is optional, not required. If the employer is open on the holiday, the original payday still applies.

Final Paycheck Deadlines

Once employment ends, the regular pay-period timeline no longer controls. Much shorter deadlines take over, and they are aggressive compared with most other states.

If the Employer Terminates You

Workers who are fired, laid off, or otherwise discharged are entitled to all earned wages immediately at the time of termination.⁸ Not the next payday, not within a few days. One narrow exception exists for seasonal workers in perishable-food processing, where the employer gets up to 72 hours for computation purposes.

If You Quit

Employees who quit without advance notice must receive final wages within 72 hours. If you give at least 72 hours’ notice of your intent to resign, the employer must pay you on your last day of work.⁹ You can request that final payment be mailed, and the mailing date counts as the payment date for the 72-hour deadline.

Penalties for Late Payment

Waiting Time Penalty on Final Wages

An employer who willfully fails to pay final wages on time owes a penalty equal to the employee’s daily rate of pay for each day the wages remain unpaid, up to a maximum of 30 calendar days.¹⁰ Those 30 days include weekends and holidays, not just business days.¹¹ For a worker earning $250 a day, that’s up to $7,500 on top of the wages themselves. The penalty stops accruing once the wages are paid or the employee files a legal claim, whichever comes first.

Civil Penalty for Any Missed Payday

Labor Code Section 210 imposes a separate civil penalty when any regular payday is missed. A first offense costs $100 per employee for each failure to pay on time. Any subsequent violation, or any willful violation, is $200 per employee plus 25 percent of the amount unlawfully withheld.¹² These penalties are independent of other remedies, so a worker can pursue them alongside the unpaid wages.

Hiring Notice and Pay Stub Rules

Written Notice at Hiring

Under Labor Code Section 2810.5, every employer must give new hires a written “Notice to Employee” that includes, among other things, the designated payday and the pay-period frequency. If the pay schedule later changes, a written update must reach affected workers within seven calendar days of the change, unless the change is already reflected on a timely pay stub.¹³

Itemized Pay Stubs

Every paycheck must come with an itemized wage statement that lists, among other required details, the inclusive dates of the pay period covered by the payment. That is how you verify you’re being paid for the right time frame. An employer who knowingly and intentionally fails to provide accurate statements owes $50 for the first violation and $100 for each subsequent pay period, up to $4,000 per employee, plus attorney’s fees.¹⁴

1
California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 204
2
Department of Industrial Relations. Paydays, Pay Periods, and the Final Wages
3
California Department of Industrial Relations. California’s Minimum Wage Set to Increase to $16.90 Per Hour on January 1, 2026
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Department of Industrial Relations. Paydays, Pay Periods, and the Final Wages
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California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code LAB 205
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California Department of Industrial Relations. The Laws Relating to the Time, Manner and Payment of Wages
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California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code LAB 204.1
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California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code LAB 201
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California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 202
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California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code LAB 203
11
Department of Industrial Relations. Waiting Time Penalties
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California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 210
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California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 2810.5
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California Legislative Information. California Labor Code 226