Texas takes a light touch on wage and hour law and leans on the federal Fair Labor Standards Act for most of the rules that other states legislate themselves. There is no state overtime statute, no general meal-or-rest-break mandate, and no minimum wage above the federal floor. What Texas does regulate — through the Texas Minimum Wage Act and the Texas Payday Law — is the mechanics of getting workers paid: the wage floor tracks the FLSA, wages are due on fixed paydays, final wages are due on deadlines keyed to how the job ends, and unpaid-wage disputes run through an administrative claim at the Texas Workforce Commission. This note walks through each rule an in-house team has to get right for a Texas workforce. For the cross-state framework, see the wage and hour practice guide.
What is the minimum wage?
Texas does not set a minimum wage of its own above the federal floor. The Texas Minimum Wage Act adopts the federal minimum wage under the FLSA by reference, so the Texas rate rises and falls with the federal figure — currently $7.25 per hour — rather than by separate state legislation . Texas also bars most local governments from setting a higher minimum wage in private employment, so there is no city or county floor above $7.25.
Section 62.051 does not name a dollar amount. It pegs the Texas minimum wage directly to Section 6 of the FLSA, which means any change in the state floor happens only when Congress amends the federal wage — the Texas figure has sat at $7.25 since the federal rate was last raised in 2009.
Because the state floor is defined by reference, an employer complying with the federal minimum wage is automatically complying with the Texas minimum wage.
Sources for this answer
Primary law
A.1 Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.051Section 62.051 sets the Texas minimum wage equal to the federal minimum wage under Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act, rather than fixing a separate state figure.
Except as provided by Section 62.057 , an employer shall pay to each employee the federal minimum wage under Section 6, Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 206).
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.051.
When is overtime owed?
There is no Texas overtime statute. Overtime for Texas employees is governed entirely by the FLSA, which requires one-and-one-half times the regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek and has no daily-overtime or double-time tier. Texas adds nothing on top: no premium for long days, no seventh-day rule, no double time . The practical rule for a Texas workforce is simply the federal 40-hour weekly rule and its exemptions.
The Texas Minimum Wage Act reinforces this deference to federal law by stepping aside for anyone the FLSA already covers. Section 62.151 exempts FLSA-covered persons from the state chapter, so for the large majority of Texas employees the federal overtime rules are the only overtime rules that apply.
Because Texas layers no daily-overtime rule on top of the FLSA, an employee who works four ten-hour days earns no overtime under Texas law unless total weekly hours pass 40 — the opposite of the daily-overtime regime in states like California.
Sources for this answer
Primary law
B.1 Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.151Section 62.151 makes the Texas Minimum Wage Act inapplicable to a person covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, so overtime for most Texas employees is governed only by the FLSA — which has no daily-overtime or double-time rule.
This chapter and a municipal ordinance or charter provision governing wages in private employment, other than wages under a public contract, do not apply to a person covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 201 et seq.).
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.151.
Are breaks required?
No. Texas has no statute requiring meal or rest breaks for adult private-sector employees. An employer is free to schedule — or not schedule — breaks as it sees fit, subject only to the federal rules: under the FLSA, short rest breaks (roughly five to twenty minutes) that an employer chooses to offer are compensable working time, while a bona fide meal period of thirty minutes or more, during which the employee is fully relieved of duties, need not be paid. Because the Texas Minimum Wage Act steps aside for FLSA-covered workers and says nothing about breaks, break rules for most Texas employees are a matter of federal law only .
The absence of a state break mandate is a defining feature of Texas wage-and-hour practice. There is no Texas analogue to a meal-period statute or a paid-rest-break wage order, and no missed-break premium. The only Texas provision in play is the one that hands the field to the FLSA.
For employers, that means break policy in Texas is driven by the FLSA compensability rules and by business preference, not by a state entitlement the workforce can enforce.
Sources for this answer
Primary law
C.1 Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.151Texas has no statute mandating meal or rest breaks; Section 62.151 makes the Texas Minimum Wage Act inapplicable to FLSA-covered persons, leaving break compensation to federal law.
This chapter and a municipal ordinance or charter provision governing wages in private employment, other than wages under a public contract, do not apply to a person covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 201 et seq.).
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.151.
When is final pay due?
It depends on how the job ends. Under the Texas Payday Law, an employee who is discharged must be paid in full no later than the sixth day after discharge; an employee who leaves voluntarily is paid in full by the next regularly scheduled payday. Texas does not accelerate final pay to the moment of separation the way some states do for discharges.
Section 61.014 draws the line between an involuntary discharge and a voluntary departure. A discharge starts a fixed six-calendar-day clock.
An employee who quits, by contrast, is paid on the ordinary payroll cycle rather than on an accelerated deadline.
The final-pay deadline turns on whether the separation is a discharge or a voluntary quit: a discharge triggers the six-day rule, while a quit is paid on the next regular payday .
Sources for this answer
Primary law
D.1 Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.014Section 61.014(a) requires an employer to pay a discharged employee in full no later than the sixth day after the date of discharge.
An employer shall pay in full an employee who is discharged from employment not later than the sixth day after the date the employee is discharged.
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.014.
Primary law
D.2 Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.014Section 61.014(b) requires an employer to pay an employee who leaves voluntarily in full no later than the next regularly scheduled payday.
An employer shall pay in full an employee who leaves employment other than by discharge not later than the next regularly scheduled payday.
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.014.
What is the penalty for late pay?
Texas has no California-style continuing-wage penalty. When an employer pays wages late or not at all, the remedy runs through an administrative wage claim at the Texas Workforce Commission, and the Commission may add a bad-faith administrative penalty on top of the wages owed . That penalty is modest and capped — the lesser of the wages at issue or $1,000 — not a daily accrual, so late-pay exposure in Texas is far smaller than in penalty states .
Section 61.053 authorizes the penalty only on a finding of bad faith, and it can cut both ways — the Commission may also penalize an employee who brings a wage claim in bad faith.
The cap keeps the penalty small in absolute terms, which is why the real deterrent in Texas is the separate criminal exposure for an employer that hires or keeps a worker intending to avoid paying wages, not the administrative penalty itself.
Sources for this answer
Primary law
E.1 Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.053Section 61.053(a) lets the Texas Workforce Commission assess an administrative penalty against an employer that acted in bad faith in not paying wages, in addition to ordering payment of the wages.
If the commission examiner, a wage claim appeal tribunal, or the commission determines that an employer acted in bad faith in not paying wages as required by this chapter, the examiner, tribunal, or commission, in addition to ordering the payment of the wages, may assess an administrative penalty against the employer.
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.053.
Primary law
E.2 Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.053Section 61.053(c) caps the bad-faith administrative penalty at the lesser of the wages in question or $1,000.
An administrative penalty assessed under this section may not exceed the lesser of: (1) the amount of the wages in question or claimed; or (2) $1,000.
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.053.
How often must workers be paid?
At least twice a month for most workers. Under the Texas Payday Law, an employee who is not exempt from the FLSA overtime rules must be paid at least twice a month (semi-monthly), while an employee who is FLSA-exempt may be paid at least once a month. If an employer does not designate paydays, they default to the first and fifteenth of each month.
Section 61.011 fixes the baseline cadence around the employee's FLSA status. Non-exempt employees get the twice-a-month floor.
Exempt employees may be paid on a monthly cycle instead.
When wages are paid twice a month, each pay period must consist as nearly as possible of an equal number of days.
Sources for this answer
Primary law
F.1 Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.011Section 61.011(b) requires an employer to pay an employee who is not FLSA-exempt at least twice a month.
An employer shall pay wages to an employee other than an employee covered by Subsection (a) at least twice a month.
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.011.
Primary law
F.2 Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.011Section 61.011(a) allows an employer to pay an employee who is exempt from the FLSA overtime provisions at least once a month.
An employer shall pay wages to each employee who is exempt from the overtime pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 201 et seq.) at least once a month.
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.011.
What must a pay stub show?
Texas requires a basic written earnings statement each pay period, but nothing like California's itemized nine-item list. At the end of each pay period the employer must give each employee a signed written statement showing the employee's name, the rate of pay, total pay earned, any deductions and their purpose, net pay, and total hours or piece-rate units. The statement may be in any form the employer chooses, including a check voucher.
Section 62.003 sets the obligation and its timing: a written earnings statement covering the pay period, furnished at the end of each pay period.
The required contents are short and practical — identity, rate, gross, deductions, net, and hours or units — a far lighter list than the detailed statutory itemization other states impose.
Sources for this answer
Primary law
G.1 Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.003Section 62.003(a) requires an employer to give each employee a written earnings statement covering the pay period at the end of each pay period.
At the end of each pay period, an employer shall give each employee a written earnings statement covering the pay period.
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.003.
Primary law
G.2 Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.003Section 62.003(b) requires the earnings statement to be signed and to show the employee's name, rate of pay, total pay earned, deductions and their purpose, net pay, and hours or piece-rate units.
An earnings statement must be signed by the employer or the employer's agent and must show: (1) the name of the employee; (2) the rate of pay; (3) the total amount of pay earned by the employee during the pay period; (4) any deduction made from the employee's pay and the purpose of the deduction; (5) the amount of pay after all deductions are made
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.003.
Employee or independent contractor?
Texas applies the common-law right-of-control test. A worker is an employee rather than an independent contractor if the hiring party has the right to control the progress, details, and methods of the work — not merely the result to be achieved. What matters is the right to control, whether or not it is exercised, weighed across factors like who supplies the tools, how the worker is paid, and the independence of the worker's business.
In Limestone Products Distribution, Inc. v. McNamara, the Texas Supreme Court stated the governing test in a single sentence.
The court explained that control over the work, not just its end result, is the touchstone — the employer must reach the means and details of the job, not merely the outcome.
Because the inquiry is about the right to control rather than the degree of control actually exercised, a worker who looks independent in practice can still be an employee if the hiring party retained the right to direct how the work is done.
Sources for this answer
Case law
H.1 Limestone Products Distribution, Inc. v. McNamaraThe Texas Supreme Court held that whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor turns on whether the employer has the right to control the progress, details, and methods of operations of the work.
The test to determine whether a worker is an employee rather than an independent contractor is whether the employer has the right to control the progress, details, and methods of operations of the work.
See Limestone Products Distribution, Inc. v. McNamara, 71 S.W.3d 308, 312 (Tex. 2002).
Case law
H.2 Limestone Products Distribution, Inc. v. McNamaraThe court explained that an employer controls not merely the end sought to be accomplished but also the means and details of its accomplishment.
The employer controls not merely the end sought to be accomplished, but also the means and details of its accomplishment.
See Limestone Products Distribution, Inc. v. McNamara, 71 S.W.3d 308, 312 (Tex. 2002).
Is a tip credit allowed?
Yes — the full federal tip credit. Texas measures a tipped employee's wage by the federal rule, so an employer may take the FLSA tip credit and pay a tipped employee a reduced cash wage as low as $2.13 per hour, provided tips make up the difference to the minimum wage . A tipped employee is one who customarily and regularly receives more than $20 a month in tips.
Section 62.052 does not set its own tip-credit mechanics. It adopts the federal definition of what counts as the wage paid to a tipped employee, folding the FLSA tip credit into Texas law by reference.
Because the state figure tracks the FLSA, the same $2.13 federal cash wage and the same tip-credit conditions — advance notice, tip retention, and the make-up requirement — apply to tipped employees in Texas.
Sources for this answer
Primary law
I.1 Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.052Section 62.052 measures the wage of a tipped employee by the amount described under Section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, adopting the full federal tip credit.
In determining the wage of a tipped employee, the amount paid the employee by the employer is the amount described as paid to a tipped employee under Section 3(m), Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 203(m)).
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.052.
How is it enforced?
Through an administrative claim and, for minimum-wage violations, a private lawsuit. An employee who is not paid the wages the Payday Law requires may file a wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission, which investigates and orders payment . Separately, an employee underpaid below the minimum wage may sue in court under the Texas Minimum Wage Act to recover the unpaid wages plus an equal amount as liquidated damages .
The Payday Law route is administrative and time-limited: a wage claim must be filed with the Commission, which then issues a preliminary wage determination order.
For a true minimum-wage shortfall, the Minimum Wage Act supplies a private civil action with a liquidated-damages doubling, which is the closest Texas comes to the enhanced remedies other states attach to unpaid wages.
Texas employees also retain the full federal remedy: a private FLSA action for unpaid minimum wage or overtime, with its own liquidated-damages and fee-shifting provisions.
Sources for this answer
Primary law
J.1 Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.051Section 61.051(a) lets an employee who is not paid wages as prescribed by the Texas Payday Law file a wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission.
An employee who is not paid wages as prescribed by this chapter may file a wage claim with the commission in accordance with this subchapter.
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.051.
Primary law
J.2 Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.201Section 62.201 makes an employer that violates the minimum-wage provisions liable to the affected employee for the unpaid wages plus an equal amount as liquidated damages.
An employer who violates Section 62.051 , 62.052 , 62.053 , or 62.054 or Subchapter C is liable to an affected employee in the amount of the unpaid wages plus an additional equal amount as liquidated damages.
See Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.201.