Tools · PTO Payout
California PTO Payout Checker (2026)
Whether California makes an employer pay out accrued, unused vacation or PTO when a job ends, applied to your own hours and rate.
California PTO payout checker
The accrued, unused balance on your last pay stub or in the HR portal. One vacation day is usually 8 hours.
Salaried? Divide your annual salary by 2,080 (52 weeks of 40 hours) for an hourly figure.
Enter your unused hours and your rate to see the California rule on your numbers.
When the final check itself is due is a separate deadline: the California final paycheck checker shows it for a quit and for a firing.
Informational only, not legal advice. Sick leave, commissions, and bonuses follow different rules, and collective bargaining agreements can change the answer. For the timing rules and citations on the check itself, see the California final paycheck reference; this record is cited to Cal. Lab. Code §227.3.
How the California rule works
California treats earned vacation as wages. When employment ends for any reason, all vested, unused vacation must be paid at the final rate of pay, and a policy cannot take earned vacation away. Employers may cap further accrual and set eligibility waiting periods, and a collective bargaining agreement may provide otherwise, but use-it-or-lose-it policies are void for time already earned.
This checker states the rule and prices your unused hours; it is informational only and not legal advice, and it does not decide whether your employer owes you. The other half of the question, when the final check itself must arrive, is covered by the California final paycheck checker and the California final paycheck reference.
PTO payout checkers for other states
Same tool, each with its own rule.