Vacation payments after layoff

I don't normally come here but when I brwose the forum today there was a post on 12/1 by huangyi99 about vacation package. If after layoff the your company missed the payment dealine you are entitled for a big compensation. My firend, used to work in the next cube to me, got laidoff a year ago and my company missed his vacation payment by a few days. Luckily he had a lawyer friend who knew CA labor laws and they came the company to negotiate. I don't knwo exaclty what the law says but in the end he got about 2X his salary, about @250K for the company to avoid lawsuit.
Study the law and consult a lawyer and you may find there is a silver lining in the layoff.