Unclaimed Payroll, Final Wages & Commissions (MS01)
Unclaimed wages carry the shortest statutory dormancy period in unclaimed property law—just 1 year in over 35 states including Delaware, California, Texas, Illinois, Florida, Ohio, and Massachusetts—and are NEVER exempt under any B2B statute.
Standard Dormancy: 1 Year (Majority incl. DE, CA, TX, IL, FL, OH, NJ, MA); 2 yrs (PA, NC); 3 yrs (NY, MD); 5 yrs (MO, MS)The Third-Party Payroll Processor Myth
Controllers frequently assume their payroll vendor (ADP, Paychex, Gusto, Rippling, Workday) handles unclaimed wage escheatment automatically. Unless a specialized escheatment add-on was contracted and funded, payroll providers generally refund uncashed 'trust' checks back to the employer's bank account or leave stale manual/final paychecks unresolved in employer-funded accounts—leaving 100% of statutory filing liability on the corporate employer.
Because employee final paychecks and severance payments drop off rapidly after termination, MS01 balances fail compliance checks faster than any other ledger account.