(a) Whenever an employee quits, resigns, is discharged, suspended or laid off, the wages earned by the employee shall become due and payable by the employer on the next regularly scheduled payday(s) either through the usual pay channels or by mail, if requested by the employee, as if the employment had not been suspended or terminated.
(b) If an employer, without any reasonable grounds for dispute, fails to pay an employee wages, as required under this chapter, the employer shall, in addition, be liable to the employee for liquidated damages in the amount of 10 percent of the unpaid wages for each day, except Sunday and legal holidays, upon which such failure continues after the day upon which payment is required or in an amount equal to the unpaid wages, whichever is smaller, except that, for the purpose of such liquidated damages, such failure to pay shall not be deemed to continue after the date of the filing of a petition of bankruptcy with respect to the employer if the employer is adjudicated bankrupt thereupon. An employer who is unable to prepare the payroll due to a labor dispute, power failure, blizzard or like weather catastrophe, epidemic, fire or explosion shall not be deemed to have violated this chapter.