Texas Labor Laws

The Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) sets standards for hourly wage rates and overtime pay, requiring employers to maintain accurate records of their employees’ working hours. These laws serve as directives for employers, helping to prevent abuse and exploitation across various sectors, including non-profit, public, and private organizations.

Federal and state labor laws mandate fair compensation for all hours worked by an employee in Texas. Where federal and state laws conflict, federal rules apply, even if they are stricter. Minimum wage, overtime, and break regulations in Texas are as follows:

Violations of federal time management laws may result in fines, penalties, and damages. Workers can file complaints with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division to initiate an investigation and legal action.

Texas Labor Code prohibits employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, or training programs from discriminating against job applicants during the hiring process. 

Texas is a right-to-work state, meaning job applicants and employees can not be rejected employment or harassed based on labor union membership or non-membership.  

Employment contracts in Texas are governed by the ‘at-will’ principle, which dictates that an employer or employee can terminate an employment contract at any time and for any reason (except illegal) without prior notice. Employees wrongfully discharged can file for legal action, including reinstatement, back pay, promotion, punitive damages, attorney costs, and court fees. 

Employers have full control over setting and enforcing work schedules in Texas. Working adults and minors aged 16 or older can work unlimited hours, with exceptions based on practicality and morale. 

Full-time retail workers in Texas (over 30 hours/week) must receive one 24-hour period off each week. Employers with 15 or more employees are mandated to provide reasonable accommodations for religious observances unless they cause undue hardship to avoid potential religious discrimination.

Additionally, Texas law safeguards employees against retaliation and discrimination if they complain about workplace discrimination or cooperate in a discrimination inquiry with the Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division (TWCCRD).

Upon termination of employment, employers are required to follow specific rules regarding final pay:

• For involuntary termination, discharge, or layoff of an employee, final wages must be paid within 6 calendar days.
• If employees quit voluntarily, their final wages must be paid by the next regularly scheduled payday.

The following laws also influence employment in Texas:

• Health Insurance Laws: In Texas, eligible employees and their dependents are entitled to continue their health insurance coverage under the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) for 18 to 36 months after termination. COBRA only applies to companies with 20 or more workers. However, employees can utilize their former employer’s health insurance plan under Texas’ state continuation for nine months if they are not eligible for COBRA. If an employee exhausts their COBRA coverage, they can benefit from an additional 6 months of health insurance coverage under state law.
• Workplace Safety Laws: The federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) ensures all workers in Texas have a safe and healthy workplace.  Under OSHA, employees have the right to receive training about workplace hazard identification and management, access records related to workplace illnesses and injuries, and participate in workplace inspections with OSHA inspectors. Employers must provide adequate training to employees, display the official OSHA poster in a prominent location at their workplace, and maintain accurate records of workplace injuries. Employee deaths must be informed within 8 hours and injuries leading to hospitalization must be informed within 24 hours to  OSHA authorities. Additionally, Texas has an Occupational Safety and Health Consultation (OSHCON) program which can assist private employers in recognizing and eliminating workplace hazards and maintaining a hazard-free working environment.
• Whistleblower Protection Laws: Employees who report illegal or unethical workplace behavior in good faith are protected by Texas’  Whistleblower Act. The law prohibits retaliation such as pay cuts, dismissal, or any other adverse employment action taken against an employee for whistleblowing. Employees may also be entitled to reinstatement to their former position and all wages and fringe benefits lost during their absence.
• Recordkeeping Laws: Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees’ records must be kept for at least 3 years. Along with the employee’s basic identification information, these records should also include workweeks, payment bases and amounts, daily and weekly hours worked, total straight-time and overtime pay, and any additions or deductions from wages.  Texas labor law outlines recordkeeping requirements with varying time durations. In general, employers in Texas are advised to maintain all employee records for at least seven years after termination of employment. If an employee was exposed to hazardous materials during their job, their records should be maintained for at least 30 years

All employees in Texas are entitled to receive at least $7.25 per hour. This rate applies to all occupations, regardless of the size of the employer. 

The FLSA defines a tipped employee as a worker who earns more than $20 in tips every month.  Following federal regulations, employers in Texas can pay tipped employees a cash wage of $2.13, with a tip credit of $5.12 per hour.

Employers must ensure that a tipped employee’s hourly cash wage with tips received equals $7.25 per hour. If an employee’s tips fall short of the federal minimum wage, the employer is required to make up the difference.

Certain employees in Texas are not entitled to earn minimum pay.  According to the FLSA, jobs that are exempt from minimum wage provisions include:

• Babysitters with casual work schedules
• Caretakers for the elderly
• Federal investigators
• Fishermen
• Newspaper carriers
• Executive, administrative, and professional employees
• Outside sales employees
• Employees working in seasonal and recreational businesses
• Farmers working on small farms
• Switchboard operators
• Employees working in newspaper companies with limited circulation
• Seamen employed on vessels that are not American

Along with federal exemptions, the following occupations are also exempt from minimum wage requirements under Texas labor laws:

• Employees of religious, educational, charitable, or nonprofit organizations
• Domestic workers
• Certain youth employees and students
• Inmates who are employed while serving time
• Family members working for a family business
• Dairy farm workers
• Sheltered workshops for individuals with disabilities

Subminimum Wages in Texas

Employers in Texas can pay subminimum wages to disabled employees after obtaining a special subminimum wage certificate from the Department of Labor. These wages are calculated in proportion to the wages earned by experienced employees for performing the same type of work. 

Employees of all ages earning subminimum wages in Texas must also receive career counseling with informational and referral activities from the Texas Workforce Commission’s Vocational Rehabilitation workers for further career opportunities and skill development.

In Texas, employees exempt under the FLSA are entitled to receive wages once a month. All non-exempt employees must receive their pay at least twice a month, with each pay period having an equal number of days.  

Employers can set designated paydays for non-exempt at their discretion. If the employer does not establish a payment schedule, paydays automatically fall on the first and fifteenth day of each month.

If an employer misses an employee’s scheduled payday, for any reason whatsoever, wages must be paid in full by the next regular business day. 

Any earned commissions and bonuses should be paid according to the terms and conditions of the contract between an employer and employee or a collective bargaining agreement.

Following state and federal law, employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek are entitled to receive:

• Overtime pay which is calculated at 1.5 times their regular hourly wage 
• ‘Comp time’ which is estimated at 1.5 hours of time off for every hour of work performed as overtime

Employees can accrue up to 240 hours of compensatory time off in a single year. Employees engaged in public safety jobs, emergency services, and seasonal occupations can accrue 480 hours of comp time.

If an employee’s accrued comp time exceeds the limits set by the law, they must be paid overtime wages for all additional hours at 1.5 times their regular rate of pay.

Exemptions from overtime pay are nuanced in Texas labor law. Generally, white-collar salaried employees earning more than $844 weekly (or $43,888 annually) are exempt from earning overtime pay. The following occupations are also not eligible for overtime pay: 

• Piece-rate pay employees with certain criteria
• Retail or service establishment employees with commission earnings
• Local electric railway, trolley, or bus carrier employees
• Public agency employees working under comp time agreements
• Outside buyers of poultry, eggs, cream, or milk in their natural state
• Seamen on any vessel
• Agricultural employees
• Employees who process maple into non-refined sugar or syrup
• Certain employees in federally authorized motor carrier businesses
• Employees of certain rail and air carriers
• Local delivery drivers receiving wages based on delivery basis
• House workers living in the residence of their employer
• Lumbering or forestry workers (with certain conditions)
• Employees whose wages are set by the Secretary of Labor
• Employees involved in cotton processing (with certain exceptions)
• Taxicab company drivers
• Motion picture theater employees

Fluctuating Workweek Overtime in Texas

Under the Fluctuating Workweek Method, certain non-exempt salaried employees can receive overtime compensation at a rate of one-half (0.5) times their regular hourly rate. 

To qualify for overtime pay under the FWW, eligible employees must work more than or less than 40 hours in a week. Overtime pay is then calculated at 0.5 times the employee’s average hourly wage.  

Employers in Texas are not mandated to offer their workers breaks in Texas. The decision to provide such benefits is entirely up to the employer. 

However, if an employer decides to provide breaks, they need to adhere to the following regulations set by the FLSA:

• Rest breaks lasting 20 minutes or less are paid. 
• Smoking breaks are not required. If provided, they are considered as rest breaks. 
• Meal breaks lasting 30 minutes or more are unpaid, provided the employee is completely relieved of their job duties. 
• Employees required to work during their meal break must be compensated accordingly.

Break law exceptions exist only for construction workers in Texas, who are entitled to a break of at least 10 minutes for every four hours worked.

Furthermore, if an employee works shifts lasting 24 hours or more, employers and employees can agree to exclude up to 8 hours of sleeping time and meal breaks from hours worked.

Under federal regulations, employees must be given a break of ‘reasonable time’ whenever they need to express milk. 

Employers must also provide a private, non-bathroom space, free from intrusion,  to express milk. Breastfeeding breaks are paid only if the employee is relieved of their duties for the duration of the break. 

These breaks must be made available for up to one year after the child’s birth and do not have to be compensated. Employers with less than 50 employees are exempt from providing breastfeeding breaks if they pose an undue hardship to the employer. 

Public-sector employers in Texas are required to adopt written policies adhering to the provisions of federal laws for breastfeeding breaks. Furthermore, breastfeeding employees can not be disciplined or retaliated against for demanding their rights under these regulations.

Employers in Texas can offer certain leave benefits to their employees under state and federal law. However, these apply mostly to public sector employees and include:

• Sick Leave: Full-time state employees in Texas can accrue up to 8 hours of paid sick leave for each month of employment, while part-time employees accrue paid sick leave on a proportionate basis. This leave may be used for various reasons, including physical ailments, injury, pregnancy, confinement, or providing care for an immediate family member who is ill, such as a spouse, child, or parent. If an employee wishes to take more than three days of paid sick leave, they must provide a doctor’s certificate stating the reason for their absence.
• Family and Medical Leave: Employees in Texas are entitled to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year. To be eligible for FMLA, employees need to have been working with their current employer for a minimum of 12 months or 1,250 hours within the past 12 months. Employees can avail FMLA leave for reasons including the birth, adoption, or fostering of a child, the care of an immediate family member with a serious health condition, as well as the employee’s own serious health condition.
• Military Leave: Texas law allows employees who are members of the Texas military forces, reserve components of the federal armed forces, or a state or federal urban search and rescue team to take paid leave for up to 15 days in a fiscal year. Additionally, if there is a disaster, employees in the Texas Military can take paid leave of up to 7 days per fiscal year. 
• Parental Leave: Employees who do not qualify for FMLA leave can avail state parental leave for reasons including the birth, adoption, or foster-care placement of a child younger than age three. This leave does not exceed 12 weeks. Similar to the FMLA, employees must first use all available paid vacation and sick leave before utilizing their parental leave benefits.
• Bereavement Leave: If an employee’s family member dies, they can take up to three days of emergency leave without any deduction in their wages.  To be eligible for bereavement leave, ‘family’ includes an employee’s spouse, their own and spouse’s parents, their children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters. 
• Volunteer Leave: Employees volunteering as firefighters and emergency medical personnel can take up to five days of paid leave to provide their services. In cases of state-wide disaster, employees volunteering for organizations part of the Texas Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) may take up to 10 days of paid leave for participation in relief services.  Employees are legally protected from losing their regular wages, overtime, comp time, or other leave benefits while on disaster relief leave.
• Administrative Leave: This leave is a way for employers to reward and motivate employees who have demonstrated exceptional work performance. Eligible employees can receive up to 32 hours of paid administrative leave per fiscal year.
• Voting Leave: Employees in Texas are allowed to take at least two hours off to vote in national, state, or local elections. Voting leave can be utilized if they do not have two consecutive hours available outside of working hours. This leave can be paid if the time taken to vote interferes with the employee’s work schedule or if an employee chooses to use their accrued comp time. 
• Jury Service Leave: All employees in Texas, except exempt salaried employees. are entitled to receive unpaid leave if they are summoned by the court for jury duty. Exempt employees must receive a full week’s pay if they work any part of the week but take jury leave for the remainder of the week. If they miss a week completely, no wages are due. 
• Donation Leave: Employees are eligible for a paid leave of up to five working days per year for bone marrow donations. Similarly, employees can take paid leave for up to 30 working days for the donation of one or more organs. State workers are also allowed to take sufficient paid time off to donate blood. However, for blood donations, employees are required to get permission to take leave from their supervisor and must produce proof of donation once they return to work. Paid leave for blood donation can not be availed more than 4 times in one fiscal year.
• Vacation Leave: Full-time state employees in Texas may be eligible for paid vacation leave if they have worked for at least six consecutive months. Annual leave is earned from the first day of a worker’s employment to the last day of duty and can be carried over to the next fiscal year, if unused. To use annual leave, employees are required to exhaust any comp time earned as overtime first.  Vacation leave accrual is determined by the length of the employee’s service. 

State employees are entitled to the following holidays in Texas for the fiscal year 2024-25:

In Texas, there are specific laws designed to protect employees under 18 from unsafe and exploitative employment. All businesses must adhere to state regulations, while only those covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are subject to federal laws. 

Generally, minors under 14 are prohibited from working, except working for a parent or legal guardian, in specific agricultural jobs, or as actors and performers, as long as these roles are not hazardous.

Any individual under the age of 18 is considered a minor in Texas and is covered by child labor protections of the state. 

Work Permits for Minors in Texas

There are no state-specific laws that mandate work permits for minors. However, employers should obtain written permission from the minor’s parent/guardian before employment.

Employers can add a section for parental/guardian permission on a minor’s job application or secure a statement on a separate document.

Following Texas child labor law imposes specific work-hour restrictions for children aged 14 and 15:

• Work hours can not be scheduled between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. on a day preceding a school day.
• No work is allowed between midnight and 5 a.m. on a day before a non-school day or during summer break.
• They can work a maximum of 8 hours in a day, with a weekly total of 48 hours. 

Additionally, minors aged 14 and 15 can request a hardship waiver from the Texas Workforce Commission for exemption from work hour regulations if they work to support themselves or their family. 

There are no workhour restrictions in the state for minors between 16 and 17 years of age.

Following is a list of some occupations banned for minors aged 14 and 15:

Furthermore, minors aged 16 and 17 cannot work in the following jobs: 

However, exceptions exist for minors working as student learners and apprentices. Learn more with Texas’s official summary of child labor laws.