An employee of ours resigned and gave 30 days notice.  However, due to the nature of his position and the security of the firm we decided we would not need the notice length he gave and accepted the resignation on the spot.  I understand this turns the resignation in to a termination.  We sent the final check out in the time needed (he doesn't work at our headquarters) but he was never around to receive the package.  Are we going to have trouble about not getting the final pay to him in the time allotted because he was not around to accept it?  What do we do if or when it gets returned to us??

PHS09:

An employee of ours resigned and gave 30 days notice.  However, due to the nature of his position and the security of the firm we decided we would not need the notice length he gave and accepted the resignation on the spot.  I understand this turns the resignation in to a termination.  We sent the final check out in the time needed (he doesn't work at our headquarters) but he was never around to receive the package.  Are we going to have trouble about not getting the final pay to him in the time allotted because he was not around to accept it?  What do we do if or when it gets returned to us??

If you sent the check to his address of record so that it would have arrived within the disbursement requirement of the state he was in when he was working for you, then you should be fine as long as you retain evidence that the delivery attempt was made in that time frame.  However, if he gave you written instruction (or you have an employee who will say they knew about other instructions from him), then you could have an issue if the former employee raises it.  I doubt he would raise such an issue unless he's really burnt about being termed after giving such a nice grace period.