No, you shouldn’t wait to pay the employee. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, wages are due on the regular payday for the pay period covered, regardless of whether the employee met your deadline for submitting their time sheet.

Ultimately, the responsibility to track and pay for all hours worked falls on the employer, not the employee. You should ask the employee how many hours they worked and pay them accordingly. If they’re unavailable to answer that question, you should take your best guess—corrections can be made later if necessary.

While you can’t delay payment, you should address the behavior. A one-time reminder will probably suffice in most cases, but progressive discipline is an option if needed. If the time sheet was late because the employee was hospitalized or out for some protected reason, discipline would not be the right approach.

You can learn more about pay requirements and progressive discipline on the platform.

This Q&A does not constitute legal advice and does not address state or local law.