Primary sources
- Va. Code 40.1-29 (as amended by 2026, c. 1040). Accessed 17 September 2026.
United States · Virginia · Final pay child
Served by Teamed US Inc., Delaware
When is a final paycheck due in Virginia?
Virginia does not name a payday or count days. It writes the deadline counterfactually: you owe the money by the date that person would have been paid if nothing had happened.
· Virginia, United States guide
Answer · cite this
In Virginia final wages are due on or before the date on which the employee would have been paid for that work had their employment not been terminated, under Va. Code 40.1-29. The same rule covers a discharge and a resignation.
That construction is unusual and it is more precise than "next regular payday". The reference point is the schedule that applied to that individual, not the employer's general pay calendar.
It matters where pay frequency differs by role. Virginia sets out frequency requirements in the same section, so an employee paid on a different cycle from their colleagues has a different final-pay deadline from them.
When must a final paycheck be paid after firing someone in Virginia?
On or before the date they would have been paid for that work had their employment not been terminated, under Va. Code 40.1-29.
Read literally, which is how it should be read, this points at the individual's own pay schedule. If that person was paid monthly while most of your staff are paid fortnightly, the monthly date governs their final payment.
The practical effect is close to a next-regular-payday rule for most employees, but it is not the same test, and the difference surfaces exactly where pay frequency varies within one workforce.
The duty to pay is separate from whether the termination itself was lawful. That is covered on the Virginia termination and at-will page.
Is it different if the employee resigns?
No. Va. Code 40.1-29 applies the same counterfactual test however the employment ended.
One standard for both routes makes Virginia simpler to operate than states that split the two, and it means the burden of explaining a delay does not shift depending on who ended the job.
Section 40.1-29 was amended in 2026 (c. 1040) and carries a substantial enforcement apparatus, including civil actions. The deadline itself is the part this page states; the remedies are not summarised here.
How does Virginia compare with the states around it?
Virginia's counterfactual wording sets it apart from its neighbours, which mostly name the next regular payday directly.
| State | If fired | If employee quits | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | On or before the next regular payday | On or before the next regular payday | Va. Code 40.1-29 (as amended by 2026, c. 1040) |
| Maryland | Next regular payday | Next regular payday | Md. Code, Lab. and Empl. 3-505 |
| North Carolina | Next regular payday | Next regular payday | N.C. Gen. Stat. 95-25.7 |
| West Virginia | Next regular payday | Next regular payday | W. Va. Code 21-5-4 |
| Kentucky | Next payday or within 14 days, whichever is later | Next payday or within 14 days, whichever is later | Ky. Rev. Stat. 337.055 |
The full 50-state picture is on the final paycheck laws by state table.
Virginia final pay, in short
- Deadline if fired
- On or before the next regular payday
- Deadline if the employee quits
- On or before the next regular payday
- Governing statute
- Va. Code 40.1-29 (as amended by 2026, c. 1040)
- Source
- Primary source
- Last verified
How much of this do you still handle if you hire in Virginia through an EOR?
None of it. Working out which date applied to that individual, the payment and the records sit with the employer of record.
What costs more than the deadline is everything around it:
- onboarding and offboarding fees
- termination charges
- contracts that lock you in
- FX markups on every pay run
- a platform built for a company ten times your size
- a ticket queue where you never learn who to contact
The industry profits from keeping that hidden. Teamed calls it the Hidden Global Employment Tax, and Teamed's whole model exists to remove it.
Teamed is the legal employer for your Virginia hire. From $599 per employee per month, with zero FX markup. $0 setup, $0 exit, and you can cancel any month. You get a designated person and real HR and legal experts assigned within 24 hours, not a ticket.
Teamed's employer cost calculator covers 94 countries and all 50 US states.
Questions people ask about Virginia final pay
When is a final paycheck due in Virginia if someone is fired?
On or before the date they would have been paid for that work had their employment not been terminated, under Va. Code 40.1-29.
When is it due if the employee quits?
No. Va. Code 40.1-29 applies the same counterfactual test however the employment ended.
Is Virginia's final pay deadline the same as "next regular payday"?
Almost, but not quite. Va. Code 40.1-29 requires payment on or before the date the employee would have been paid for that work had their employment not been terminated. For most employees that is the next regular payday, but the reference point is the schedule that applied to that individual, so an employee on a different pay frequency from their colleagues has a different deadline.
A note from Tom Price-Daniel
Virginia asks a slightly different question from most states.
Not "when is payday", but "when would this person have been paid".
If pay frequency varies across your team, those are not the same date.
Tom Price-Daniel · Co-founder, Teamed
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