In DC, a fired employee must be paid by the next working day after discharge.
Law: D.C. Code §32-1303 · Rules checked October 2026
If you quit, DC requires payment on the next regular payday or within seven days of your resignation, whichever is earlier.
DC sets no automatic per-day penalty in the timing rule itself, but its wage-payment law carries strong court remedies for unpaid wages — the claim and the paper trail are the leverage.
Your state lets the employer's own policy decide. If the handbook or your offer letter promises payout of accrued vacation — or the company has a practice of paying it — that promise is enforceable. If the policy says unused vacation is forfeited at separation, the state will generally hold you to it.
The free claim goes to DC Department of Employment Services. It costs nothing and you do not need a lawyer; what you need is the amount computed, the demand already sent where your state rewards one, and the file assembled.
Filing window: set by state law and shorter than people expect — file within weeks, not months.
Compute your District of Columbia verdict — free
General information from the published statute — not legal advice. Penalty figures elsewhere on this site are statutory maximums, with willfulness conditions named where the statute names them.