Maine requires final pay by the next regular payday — or within two weeks after you demand it in writing, whichever comes first.
Law: 26 M.R.S. §§626, 626-A · Rules checked October 2026
The same rule applies when you quit: next payday, or two weeks after a written demand, whichever is sooner.
Maine sets no automatic penalty in the timing rule, but after a written demand and eight days, state penalties start attaching to unpaid wages (§626-A) — the demand is the step that matters.
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 Maine Department of Labor. 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 Maine 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.