Minnesota's rule is demand-driven: a discharged employee's wages are due immediately when the employee demands them, and must be paid within 24 hours of a written demand (§181.13).
Law: Minn. Stat. §§181.13, 181.14 · Rules checked October 2026
If you quit, wages are due on the next regular payday — unless that payday falls within five days of your last day, in which case the deadline is the following payday or 20 days after your last day, whichever is sooner (§181.14).
Minnesota's penalty is built on the written demand: wages are due immediately when demanded, and for each day they stay unpaid after a 24-hour grace, the penalty is one day's average earnings — up to 15 days (§181.13). No written demand, no penalty clock.
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 Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. 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 Minnesota 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.