State law sets a strict deadline for the final paycheck — California requires immediate pay on discharge, Texas allows six business days, New York follows the next regular payday. Missing that deadline triggers waiting-time penalties: in California, that's the employee's daily wage rate for up to 30 days.
Logging the termination in Payrollix kicks off the deadline clock and tracks the rest of the workflow — accrued PTO payout, final paycheck status, COBRA notice.
Before you start
You'll need the employee's last day worked and the reason for separation (discharge, layoff, voluntary quit, mutual separation, end of contract, death, or other). For a voluntary quit, note whether the employee gave at least 72 hours' notice — in California and Oregon, that changes the deadline.
Log the termination
- From the client dashboard sidebar, expand People and click Terminations.
- Click Log termination in the top right.
- Pick the employee from the dropdown.
- Choose the Reason that matches the separation.
- Enter the Last day worked.
- If the reason is "Voluntary quit," check Employee gave 72+ hours' notice when applicable.
- Click Log termination.
The row appears immediately with the computed final-paycheck deadline, accrued PTO balance (and whether the state mandates payout), and a Pending status. The employee's termination_date is stamped on their record as a side effect — most other parts of the system read from there.
What the deadline column tells you
The deadline column shows the date the final paycheck is due, the statutory basis (e.g. "CA Labor Code §201 — immediate"), and a hover tooltip with the rule source. If the row turns red and reads OVERDUE by Nd, the deadline has passed without a paid status — waiting-time penalties are accruing.
The red N final paychecks overdue banner at the top of the page surfaces the same warning across all pending rows.
Mark the paycheck paid
For most cases, you don't need to click anything. When you run the next payroll for the client and that payroll includes the terminated employee, the system flips the termination from Pending to Paid automatically and stamps which run paid it. If the run's pay date is past the deadline, the status becomes Late instead — same paid stamp, but flagged for the penalty exposure.
If you paid the employee outside Payrollix (paper check, wire) and want to clear the row manually:
- Find the row in the terminations list.
- Click Mark paid.
The system auto-stamps today as the paid date and auto-promotes the status to Late if today is past the deadline.
PTO payout
The PTO payout column shows the accrued balance at termination and the dollar value (hourly rate × hours, or annual salary × hours ÷ 2080 for salaried). If the state mandates payout — California, Massachusetts, North Dakota, and several others — the column shows a red Mandatory flag.
PTO payout is tracked separately from the final paycheck status, since some states require the payout but on a different timeline than the final paycheck itself.
Reasons in detail
| Reason | When to pick it |
|---|---|
| Discharge / Termination | Employer-initiated separation for cause or performance. |
| Layoff / RIF | Employer-initiated separation due to economic conditions or restructuring. Same final-pay deadline as discharge in every state. |
| Voluntary quit | Employee resigned. The 72-hour notice flag changes CA/OR deadlines. |
| Mutual separation | Negotiated exit. Uses the most lenient deadline category. |
| End of contract | Fixed-term employment ended. Same as mutual. |
| Death | Employee died. Uses the strict (discharge) deadline; probate rules vary. |
| Other | Anything that doesn't fit. Uses the most lenient deadline category. |
What this doesn't do
Termination logging doesn't generate the final paycheck — you still run a payroll for the period. It doesn't send COBRA notices, but it does record when you mark one sent. It doesn't notify the employee of their last paycheck; that's still on you.
Related
The new-hire side of the workflow is covered in the New Hire Reporting article. Direct-deposit timing for the final paycheck is in How ACH Timing Works.