Payday Requirements

State Payday Laws

Below is a chart of state payday requirements in brief, under state payday laws (employment or labor laws). It indicates how often employers must pay employees in each state, if applicable, such as weekly, biweekly (every two weeks), semimonthly (twice monthly) or monthly.

Employers may pay employees sooner or more frequently than the minimum periods mandated by state payday laws, but not later or less frequently unless a state law allows such an exception (noted in the chart).

Because independent contractors (ICs) are not employees in the legal sense (unless misclassified), state payday laws typically do not apply to them.

Instead, IC payday requirements are a matter of contractual agreement. It's not unusual for employers (clients) to contractually pay ICs 30 days in arrears, the same as they pay other vendors.

Payday requirements for union workers might be a matter of agreement too, per collective bargaining agreements. Typically, contractual agreements may mandate more frequent paydays than the state law requires for employees, but not fewer unless the law allows the exception.

Be sure to read the footnote indicated for your work state in the State Payday Laws Chart, if applicable. If your occupation, industry or some other particular aspect of your job is not mentioned in the footnote, then it either falls within the payday period indicated or there is no payday law that specifically covers it (your employer may decide how to often to pay you).

State Payday Laws Chart

State Payday Laws Footnotes

¹ Alabama and South Carolina: No state payday laws or related regulations, or payday requirements are not specified. However, South Carolina employers with five or more employees must give written notice to newly-hired employees about payday periods and places of payment, and then the employers must adhere to same.
² Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico and Virginia: Monthly payday requirements noted are for Executive, Administrative and Professional personnel.
³ Arizona: Payday two or more days in a month, not more than 16 days apart.
⁴ Connecticut: Longer interval (up to monthly) permitted if approved by labor commissioner.
⁵ Hawaii: Employees may choose to be paid on a monthly basis under special election procedure. Director of labor and industrial relations also may grant exceptions to the general semimonthly payday requirement. Payday requirement applies only to private-sector employment.
⁶ Iowa: Payday requirement is no more than 12-days excluding Sundays and holidays, after the end of the period in which the wages were earned. Can be waived by written agreement. Commission employees have different payday requirements.
⁷ Louisiana: Applicable to entities engaged in manufacturing, mining, or boring for oil, employing 10 or more employees, and to every public service corporation. Payment is required once every two weeks or twice during each calendar month.
⁸ Maine: Paydays at regular intervals of no more than 16 days.
⁹ California and Michigan: Payday frequency depends on occupation.
¹⁰ Minnesota: Payday must be within 24 hours for employees engaged in transitory employment (migrant workers) requiring the employees to change their places of abode, because employment was terminated after completion of the work or because the employees were discharged or quit.
¹¹ Mississippi: Applies to all businesses engaged in manufacturing of any kind in the State employing 50 or more employees and employing public labor, and to every public service corporation doing business in the State. Payment is required once every two weeks or twice during each calendar month.
¹² Montana: Payday must be within 10 days after wages are due and payable.
¹³ Nebraska and Pennsylvania: Payday designated by employer.
¹⁴ New York: Weekly payday for manual workers. Semimonthly payday upon approval for manual workers, and for clerical and other workers.
¹⁵ North Carolina: No state payday law or related regulations, or payday requirements are not specified.
¹⁶ Rhode Island: Weekly, but childcare providers may choose to be paid biweekly.
¹⁷ Texas: Monthly payday requirement for employees who are exempt from overtime.
¹⁸ Utah: Paydays must be at regular intervals no longer than semimonthly.
¹⁹ Vermont: Weekly, but employers may implement biweekly and semimonthly paydays with written notice.
²⁰ Virginia: Employees whose weekly wages total more than 150 percent of the average weekly wage of the Commonwealth may be paid monthly, upon agreement of each affected employee.
²¹ Florida: Minimum payday requirement shown is only for state officers and employees. May be biweekly or semimonthly, if requested by the head of a state agency and approved by the Executive Office of the Governor and the Department of Financial Services. Minimum payday requirement for private-sector employees is not specified in the payday law.

State Payday Laws Source

State payday law requirements and related footnotes were complied from data provided by the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)

State payday requirements were effective as of January 1, 2010, according to the WHD; but, state payday laws are subject to change. To verify that the chart is still up to date for your work state or for more information about a state payday law, start by checking with the wage and hour (or equivalent) division of the relevant state labor department.

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