California Labor Code Section 204: Pay Windows and Late-Pay Penalties

California Labor Code Section 204 requires most employees to be paid at least twice each calendar month, with wages earned in the first half of the month due between the 16th and the 26th, and wages earned in the second half due between the 1st and the 10th of the following month. Miss those windows and the employer owes penalties on top of the wages themselves.

The Two Semi-Monthly Pay Windows

The default schedule under Section 204 has two hard deadlines tied to when the work was done:

Work performed between the 1st and the 15th of a month must be paid between the 16th and the 26th of that same month.
Work performed between the 16th and the last day of the month must be paid between the 1st and the 10th of the following month.

These are outer limits, not targets. An employer who pays on the 28th for work done in the first half of the month is violating the statute every pay period, even if the check eventually clears in full.¹

Your employer also has to pick paydays in advance and post a notice showing the day, time, and place of payment. The state publishes a standard Payday Notice form for that purpose, and the notice has to be somewhere workers can actually read it during the workday.²³

Weekly and Biweekly Schedules

Employers aren’t stuck with the two-window default. Section 204 allows weekly, biweekly, or other semi-monthly arrangements as long as wages are paid within seven calendar days after the pay period closes.¹ If your biweekly pay period ends on a Saturday, your employer has until the following Saturday.

To check whether you’re being paid on time, count seven calendar days from the last day of your pay period. Anything after that is late.

Why Your Overtime Shows Up a Paycheck Later

Overtime is the biggest source of confusion under Section 204, and it’s usually not a violation. Wages for hours worked beyond your normal schedule don’t have to appear on the same check as your regular hours. Instead, overtime is due no later than the payday for the next regular payroll period.¹

If you worked overtime during a pay period that ended March 15, your employer can legally hold that overtime until the next paycheck in early April. The statute also lets the employer show those hours as a correction on the following pay stub, provided the stub identifies the dates being corrected. If your overtime consistently arrives one paycheck behind, the statute is working as written.

Monthly Pay for Exempt Salaried Employees

There’s one class of worker who can be paid just once a month: salaried executive, administrative, and professional employees who meet the federal Fair Labor Standards Act exemption. The monthly payment must arrive on or before the 26th of the month in which the work was done, and the check has to include the full month’s salary, including the unearned days between the payment date and month-end.¹

This exception is narrower than it looks. California sets a higher salary bar than federal law for the exempt classification. Starting January 1, 2026, an employee has to earn at least $70,304 per year (twice the state minimum wage of $16.90 per hour, applied to full-time work) just to clear the salary threshold of the exemption test.⁴ Labeling a non-exempt worker “exempt” to justify monthly pay opens exposure under overtime and meal-break rules as well as Section 204.

Commissions and Union Contracts

Two categories of pay sit outside Section 204’s windows entirely. Commission wages are governed by Section 204.1 and by the terms of your written commission agreement, which controls when a commission is considered earned and payable.¹ Vague or missing agreements don’t give employers unlimited time to pay once the amount is calculable.

Collective bargaining agreements also override the default. If you’re covered by a union contract that sets different pay arrangements, those arrangements control, and less frequent schedules or different payment windows don’t violate Section 204.¹

Penalties When Your Employer Pays Late

Labor Code Section 210 imposes civil penalties separate from the wages themselves, and they stack per employee and per pay period:

First violation: $100 per employee for each failure to pay on time.
Subsequent or willful violations: $200 per employee, plus 25 percent of the wages unlawfully withheld.

Employees can recover these penalties directly through the Labor Commissioner’s wage claim process, or through a Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) action.⁵ The 25 percent surcharge is what makes the statute expensive for repeat offenders. An employer who shorts 50 employees by $500 each across two pay periods faces $12,500 in the percentage penalty alone, on top of the back wages and per-employee flat fines.

Filing a Wage Claim

If your employer is paying outside the Section 204 windows, shorting your check, or ignoring the rules altogether, you can file a wage claim with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office. Claims go in online, by email, by mail, or in person at a local office, and there’s no filing fee.⁶

After you file, the case usually moves through a settlement conference first. If that doesn’t resolve it, a hearing officer reviews the evidence and issues a decision.

Watch the deadlines. You have three years to file for minimum wage violations, unpaid overtime, illegal deductions, and unpaid reimbursements. Claims based on an oral promise to pay above minimum wage carry a two-year limit; claims on a written contract get four years. Penalties for bounced paychecks or denial of access to payroll records have to be filed within one year.⁶ The clock runs from the date of the violation, not from when you noticed it.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 204 – Time of Payment of Wages
2
Department of Industrial Relations. Paydays, Pay Periods, and the Final Wages
3
Department of Industrial Relations. Payday Notice
4
Department of Industrial Relations. California Minimum Wage Set to Increase to $16.90 Per Hour
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Department of Industrial Relations. FAQs – Late Payment of Wages
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Department of Industrial Relations. How to File a Wage Claim