A man in Georgia waiting for his last paycheck was left with a literal pile of gold – or more accurately a pile of copper – when he came upon $915 dollars sitting on his drive way in the form of oily pennies. Allegedly the work of a vindictive employer, the man had to gather up the mound of pennies with a wheel barrel and clean them off in order to cash in on his final paycheck.

In California, regardless of if your last pay check was issued in pennies or not, if it was issued late, you have a legal claim. A final pay check is deemed late if it was not issued to you immediately at the time of termination or layoff, or within 72 hours of you quitting without advanced notice. In California, waiting time penalties – the penalties you could be due for each day your final wages remain unpaid – are recoverable for up to 30 days of your daily wage.

If instead of Georgia, this happened in California, then assuming he made $23/hr. his former boss would have had to leave him $5,520 in pennies on top of the $915! ($23/hr x 8 hours a day x 30 days = $5,520 in additional late pay penalty late).

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About The Author

Brian G. Lee is an associate attorney at Yoon Law, APC. Mr. Lee earned his J.D. at University of Southern California Gould School of Law. He has been recognized as one of Southern California’s Super Lawyers Rising Stars, for the year 2020.