When is the final paycheck due in New Hampshire?

Fired: within 72 hours of discharge — one of the fastest deadlines in the country — including any vacation owed under your policy. Laid off or quit: the next regular payday, accelerated to 72 hours if the employee gave at least a pay period's notice. Willful delay accrues liquidated damages up to 10% per day.

Does a New Hampshire employer have to pay out unused PTO at termination?

Per your policy — but whatever the policy owes counts as wages under RSA 275:42-43 and rides the 72-hour clock, with the 10%-per-day penalty behind it.

What is New Hampshire's reporting-pay rule?

An employee who reports to work at the employer's request must be paid at least 2 hours, even if sent home — which matters when call-off miscommunication puts someone on site who wasn't needed.

Does New Hampshire require meal breaks?

Yes — 30 minutes after 5 consecutive hours of work, unless it's feasible for the employee to eat while working and the employer allows it (in which case the eating time is paid).

Can you fire someone for calling in sick in New Hampshire?

Generally yes — at-will applies, limited by FMLA/ADA and the Monge bad-faith doctrine, which reaches terminations motivated by malice or retaliation for protected conduct.

New Hampshire sick leave law & call-off rules

Q: Is paid sick leave required in New Hampshire?

No. New Hampshire has no sick leave mandate — the Granite State Paid Family Leave program is voluntary opt-in insurance, not a requirement. Sick leave is whatever your written policy provides, plus federal FMLA and ADA obligations.

New Hampshire has no sick leave mandate — its sharp edge is the exit: fire someone and the full final check, including any policy-owed vacation, is due within 72 hours, with liquidated damages of up to 10% per day for willful delay. Add a 2-hour reporting-pay rule and a meal break at 5 hours, and the Granite State is stricter than its reputation. Here is what applies in 2026.

New Hampshire at a glance

Paid sick leave mandate	None — the state PFL program is voluntary opt-in
Final paycheck (fired)	Within 72 hours; liquidated damages up to 10%/day for willful delay
Policy-owed PTO	Counts as wages when due (RSA 275:42-43)
Reporting pay	2 hours' pay when an employee reports at the employer's request
Meal break	30 minutes after 5 consecutive hours (unless eating while working is feasible)
Employment relationship	At-will with the Monge bad-faith exception
Voting leave	Not required

Is paid sick leave required in New Hampshire?

No. New Hampshire has no sick leave requirement — its Granite State Paid Family Leave is a voluntary opt-in insurance product, not a mandate — and no locality adds one. Your written policy plus the federal floor governs.

The federal floor that still applies

FMLA

Employers with 50+ employees within 75 miles must give eligible employees (12+ months tenure, 1,250+ hours in the past year) up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for a serious health condition — their own or a close family member's. FMLA-protected absences can't accrue attendance points, and a call-off that mentions an ongoing condition can be notice enough to trigger your FMLA obligations, even if the employee never says "FMLA."

ADA

For employers with 15+ employees, the ADA can require modified attendance expectations or unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation for a disability. An attendance policy applied "no exceptions" is exactly the kind that loses ADA cases — build an accommodation carve-out into the policy itself.

Call-offs, no-call no-shows, and firing in New Hampshire

New Hampshire is at-will with the venerable Monge bad-faith exception — terminations motivated by malice or retaliation for protected conduct are actionable even without a statute. For attendance operations, the state-specific mechanics cluster at the edges of the shift: the reporting-pay rule means a worker called in after a garbled call-off situation and sent home still gets two hours' pay, and the 72-hour final-check rule makes attendance firings a payroll event, not just an HR one. The NH Department of Labor is an active enforcer. A call-off hotline or text-based call-off system prevents the garbled-call-off scenario in the first place — the report either exists, time-stamped, or it doesn't.

PTO payout and final paychecks

Scenario	Rule	Source
Employee is fired	Within 72 hours of discharge (laid off: next regular payday)	RSA 275:44
Employee quits	Next regular payday — within 72 hours if they gave at least one pay period's notice	RSA 275:44
Vacation / severance / sick pay owed by policy	Wages when due — payable per the policy's own terms	RSA 275:42-43
Willful nonpayment	Liquidated damages up to 10% of the unpaid wages per day	RSA 275:44 IV

A Friday-afternoon attendance termination means a Monday check, vacation included — build the 72-hour clock into the termination decision itself. See how PTO accrual works.

Leave New Hampshire employers must (and must not) provide

Leave type	Required?	Notes
Meal break	Yes	30 minutes after 5 consecutive hours, unless it's feasible to eat while working and the employer permits it (paid in that case)
Reporting pay	Yes	2 hours' pay when an employee reports to work at the employer's request (RSA 275:43-a) — relevant to send-homes after call-off confusion
Jury duty	Yes — unpaid	No discharge, threats, or coercion; suit within one year
Voting	No	No voting-leave statute
Military	Yes	USERRA (federal) plus New Hampshire National Guard protections

The New Hampshire employer's attendance playbook

Put it in writing. A written policy — call-off deadline and channel, points or steps, the no-call no-show rule, and carve-outs for legally protected absences — is what makes discipline defensible. Our attendance policy guide walks through it.
Give call-offs one channel. "Tell whoever answers" is how records get lost. One number every employee texts or calls makes the record automatic.
Log everything with timestamps. Unemployment hearings and discrimination charges are won on contemporaneous records, not recollections.
Enforce consistently. Uneven enforcement converts a lawful termination into a discrimination claim.
Screen call-offs for protected reasons before applying points — sickness that could be FMLA/ADA territory gets a different track than an overslept alarm.

Note: This is general information for New Hampshire private-sector employers as of 2026, not legal advice. Federal contractors and public employers have additional rules, and laws change. Confirm specifics with qualified counsel.

Comparing states? See all published guides on the state sick leave laws hub.

Menu