When Is My Final Paycheck Due After Being Fired in Massachusetts?

“Your check comes next payday” is the wrong answer to a firing in Massachusetts. M.G.L. c. 149, sec. 148 requires that an employee discharged from employment be paid in full on the day of discharge, and M.G.L. c. 149, sec. 150 makes treble damages mandatory for an employee who prevails on a claim under the section.

The deadlines section 148 actually sets

Section 148 carries several timing rules, and they are different from one another.

Ordinary wages are due within six days of the end of the pay period where the employee works a five or six day week, and within seven days where the week runs seven days.

An employee discharged from employment is paid in full on the day of discharge. That is the rule the video is built on.

An employee who quits is paid on the next regular payday. The distinction between a firing and a resignation is doing real work here, because the answer flips depending on which one happened.

Holiday pay and vacation pay owed under an oral or written agreement count as wages under the section, and no special contract can exempt an employer from these requirements.

Why section 150 is the one with teeth

Section 150 provides that an employee so aggrieved who prevails in such an action shall be awarded treble damages, as liquidated damages, for any lost wages and other benefits, along with the costs of litigation and reasonable attorney’s fees.

The operative word is shall. On a win, the multiplier is not something a court weighs; the statute directs it.

The step before the lawsuit

Before filing, the employee must file a complaint with the Attorney General and either wait ninety days or obtain the Attorney General’s written assent. The action itself must be brought within three years.

That sequence is part of the statutory scheme rather than a formality, and an otherwise strong claim can be derailed by skipping it. It is one of the reasons a Massachusetts employee with a late final paycheck should describe the timeline to a lawyer early rather than late.