At-will employment doctrine
Wyoming follows the at-will employment doctrine. Unless a contract exists, either party may terminate the employment relationship at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all. This presumption applies to employment of indefinite duration. The at-will rule has exceptions: employers cannot terminate employees for discriminatory reasons, in retaliation for filing workers' compensation claims, in retaliation for filing OSHA complaints or testifying in OSHA proceedings, or for reasons that violate Wyoming public policy. Written employment contracts, collective bargaining agreements, and implied-in-fact contracts (such as promises in employee handbooks that employees reasonably rely upon) can override the at-will presumption.
Source: Wyoming Judicial Branch – Workplace Safety & Workers' Compensation
Final paycheck timing — involuntary termination and voluntary resignation
Wyoming requires employers to pay terminated or resigning employees all wages due no later than the employer's usual practice on regularly scheduled payroll dates. This rule applies to both involuntary terminations (discharge, layoff) and voluntary resignations with no distinction in timing. Wyo. Stat. § 27-4-104(a) does not impose an immediate-payment obligation or a fixed number of days; instead, the statute keys the deadline to the employer's established payroll schedule. An employer that pays weekly must issue the final paycheck on the next weekly payday after separation; an employer on a biweekly or semimonthly schedule follows that same cadence.
If a collective bargaining agreement between the employer and employee specifies a different final-paycheck timing rule, the CBA's timing governs under § 27-4-104(a). The statute expressly contemplates timing "specified under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement."
Commission-based sales agents — exception. Section 27-4-104(a) excludes earnings of a sales agent employed on a commission basis who has custody of accounts, money, or goods of the principal, where the net amount due the agent "may not be determinable except after an audit or verification of sales, accounts, funds or stocks." For these positions, the employer may delay final payment until the necessary audit or verification is complete.
Employer offsets. The employer may offset from any monies due the employee as wages "any sums due the employer from the employee which have been incurred by the employee during his employment." Wyo. Stat. § 27-4-104(a). The statute does not define "incurred during employment" or specify procedures for documenting the offset, but the plain language permits employers to deduct bona fide debts that arose in the course of the employment relationship.
Penalties for late payment. Every person, firm, or corporation that willfully violates § 27-4-104 is guilty of a misdemeanor and faces a fine between $500 and $750 per offense. Wyo. Stat. § 27-4-105. An employee who prevails in a suit for unpaid wages may also recover 18 percent interest on the unpaid amount, together with attorney fees and costs. The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services may investigate and determine claims for unpaid wages up to $500 or two months' wages (whichever is greater) per employee. Wyo. Stat. § 27-4-503(a).
Wyoming law amended § 27-4-104(a) in 2017 (effective February 13, 2017) to replace the prior "five working days" deadline with the "next regular payday" standard. Employers relying on secondary-source summaries published before 2017 should verify the current text.
Source: Wyo. Stat. § 27-4-104 Source: Wyo. Stat. § 27-4-105 Source: Wyo. Stat. § 27-4-503 Source: 2017 Wyo. Sess. Laws, H.B. 92