Michigan Final Paycheck Law: Deadlines, Deductions, and Penalties

Under Michigan’s final paycheck law, your employer must pay every dollar of earned wages by the regularly scheduled payday for the pay period in which you left the job, whether you quit or were fired.¹ The rule sits in the Payment of Wages and Fringe Benefits Act, and its bite comes from the penalties: an employer who ignores it can end up owing double the unpaid amount plus interest and a civil fine.

When Your Final Wages Are Due

MCL 408.475 sets one deadline for both resignations and discharges. Your employer must pay all wages earned and due “as soon as the amount can with due diligence be determined,” but no later than the regularly scheduled payday for the pay period in which you separated.¹ If you were fired on Tuesday and payday is Friday, Friday is the outer limit.

Michigan does not require same-day payment on discharge. The “as soon as practicable” language gives an employer room to run its final payroll, but an employer who parks a ready check until the last possible payday is inviting a complaint.

Hand-Harvest Workers

If you were engaged in hand harvesting of crops and voluntarily left, your employer must pay all earned wages no later than three days after your last day of work.¹

Union Contracts Can Override

If a collective bargaining agreement sets its own final-pay rules, those terms control instead of the statute for both voluntary and involuntary separations.¹ If your contract is silent, the statutory deadline still applies.

What Has to Be In the Check

Michigan law splits your compensation into two categories, and the distinction decides what your employer must pay you at separation.

Wages are earnings calculated on any basis—time, task, piece, commission, or otherwise. Pay for work performed.² Your employer owes you every dollar of earned wages at separation. There is no wiggle room.

Fringe benefits are a separate category: compensation owed under a written contract or written policy. The statute lists holiday pay, sick time, personal time, vacation, bonuses, authorized business expenses, and employer contributions made on your behalf.² The word doing the work in that definition is “written.” A verbal promise from a manager is nearly impossible to enforce.

Fringe benefits get paid according to the terms of the written contract or policy that created them.³ If your handbook says accrued vacation is paid out at termination, the employer must include it. If the handbook says unused vacation is forfeited, or says nothing at all, you likely have no claim.

Most disputes turn on the exact policy language. A bonus promised “at the company’s discretion” may not create a binding obligation. A vacation program that says you “earn” one week per quarter looks like a commitment. Before you assume a benefit is owed, pull out your hire documents and any written policy updates.

What Your Employer Can and Cannot Deduct

Michigan tightly limits what comes out of your final check. Under MCL 408.477, no deduction is allowed without your full, free, written consent, given without intimidation or fear of losing your job for refusing.⁴ Deductions that benefit the employer require fresh written consent for each pay period, and total deductions cannot drop your gross pay below Michigan’s minimum wage.

Michigan’s minimum wage is $13.73 per hour as of January 1, 2026.⁵ The federal floor also applies, and whichever rate is higher controls.⁴ An employer who deducts the cost of a damaged laptop in a way that pushes your effective rate below the minimum has violated the law, even if you signed a consent form.

Deductions required or expressly permitted by law—income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare, court-ordered garnishments—do not need your consent and come off the top.⁴ Your employer cannot hold your entire final paycheck hostage because you have not returned a laptop or keys. That kind of self-help is not permitted.

Clawing Back Overpayments

If your employer accidentally overpaid you due to a math, typographical, or clerical error, they can recover it without written consent, but only under strict conditions. They must give you written notice at least one full pay period before deducting. Each deduction cannot exceed 15% of your gross wages for that pay period, and it still cannot push your pay below minimum wage. The employer also has only six months from the date of the overpayment to begin recovery.⁴ Miss the six-month window and the right to deduct without consent is gone.

Filing a Wage Complaint

If your employer will not pay, you can file with the Wage and Hour Division of Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. The form is called the Wage and Benefit Complaint Form, submitted through the state’s online portal or by mail.⁶

Gather what you will need before you file: pay stubs, your own records of hours worked, copies of any employment contract or handbook, and the employer’s legal name and address. The more precisely you can state the amount owed and the pay periods involved, the faster an investigator can move.

The department notifies the employer and investigates, first trying to resolve the dispute informally. If that fails, it issues a written determination identifying any violations, the amounts owed, and penalties assessed. Either side can request a formal review, and the hearing officer’s decision can be appealed to circuit court.

Deadlines to File

The clock starts on the day the violation occurred, not the day you found out about it. The deadlines depend on the type of claim:

Unpaid wages or fringe benefits: 12 months.
Minimum wage or overtime violations: 3 years.
Earned sick time violations: 3 years.

⁷

The 12-month deadline for standard wage complaints catches people off guard. If your final check was short in March and you wait until the following April, the department will likely reject the claim as untimely.

Complaint or Lawsuit

Filing with the department may prevent you from pursuing the same claim through a private lawsuit.⁶ The state’s own instructions flag this election-of-remedies issue. The administrative path costs nothing and puts the state’s investigators to work for you. A private lawsuit can open the door to attorney fees and larger damages. If the unpaid amount is substantial or the employer’s conduct looks flagrant, talk to an employment attorney before you file anything.

Penalties an Employer Can Face

The consequences under MCL 408.488 escalate quickly if the employer digs in.

All unpaid wages and fringe benefits ordered paid.
Interest at 10% per year on the unpaid amount, running from the date the employer is notified of the complaint until payment.
Exemplary damages of up to double the unpaid amount for flagrant or repeated violations.
A civil penalty of up to $1,000 payable to the state.
Attorney fees, hearing costs, and transcript costs where the department orders them.

⁸

An employer who intentionally withholds wages with intent to defraud commits a misdemeanor punishable by up to $1,000 in fines, up to one year in jail, or both.⁹ Criminal prosecution is rare, but the statute exists and gets used when the conduct is clearly willful.

1
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 408.475 – Payment of Wages to Employee Voluntarily Leaving or Discharged From Employment
2
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 408.471 – Definitions
3
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 408.473 – Payment of Fringe Benefits; Terms
4
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 408.477 – Deductions From Wages
5
Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Minimum Wage and Overtime
6
State of Michigan. Before Filing a Wage and Benefit Complaint
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Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Online Employment Wage Complaint Form
8
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 408.488 – Violations; Ordering Payments; Civil Penalty
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Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 408.485 – Failure to Pay Wages