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  "data": {
    "topic": "wage-and-hour",
    "state": "texas",
    "frontmatter": {
      "title": "Wage and Hour Law in Texas",
      "description": "A question-by-question summary of Texas wage and hour law, covering the federal $7.25 minimum wage adopted by the Texas Minimum Wage Act, the absence of any state overtime or meal-and-rest-break mandate, the statutory final-pay deadlines, the administrative Texas Payday Law penalty, semi-monthly paydays, the basic written earnings statement, the common-law right-of-control test for worker status, and the full federal tip credit.",
      "state": "Texas",
      "lastReviewed": "2026-06-30",
      "license": "CC BY 4.0",
      "authors": [
        "steven-obiajulu"
      ],
      "summary": {
        "minimumWageFloor": "federal",
        "bottomLine": "Texas is a low-regulation, federal-floor wage-and-hour state — it adopts the $7.25 federal minimum wage, imposes no state overtime or break mandate, fixes final-pay deadlines by statute, and decides worker status by the common-law right-of-control test.",
        "keyLaw": "Tex. Lab. Code §§ 61.011, 61.014, 61.019, 62.003, 62.051, 62.052; Limestone Products Distribution, Inc. v. McNamara, 71 S.W.3d 308 (Tex. 2002)",
        "dailyOvertime": "weeklyOnly",
        "mealRestBreaks": "none",
        "finalPayTiming": "withinDays",
        "latePayPenalty": "adminEnforcementOnly",
        "payFrequency": "semiMonthly",
        "wageStatement": "basicRequired",
        "workerClassificationTest": "commonLaw",
        "tipCredit": "fullFederalTipCredit",
        "currentAsOf": "2026-01-01"
      },
      "about": [
        "Texas wage and hour law",
        "Texas minimum wage and overtime",
        "Texas Payday Law and final pay",
        "Texas earnings statements",
        "Texas worker classification (right-of-control test)",
        "Texas tip credit"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "language": "中文",
          "status": "planned"
        },
        {
          "language": "Español",
          "status": "planned"
        },
        {
          "language": "Português",
          "status": "planned"
        },
        {
          "language": "Deutsch",
          "status": "planned"
        }
      ]
    },
    "questions": [
      {
        "slug": "minimum-wage",
        "label": "What is the state minimum wage, and how does it relate to the federal floor?",
        "heading": "What is the minimum wage?",
        "answerText": "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.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-62-051",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.051",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.051.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.62.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 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.",
            "verbatimQuote": "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).",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-62-051"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "overtime",
        "label": "What are the daily and weekly overtime rules?",
        "heading": "When is overtime owed?",
        "answerText": "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.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-62-151",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.151",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.151.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.62.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 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.",
            "verbatimQuote": "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.).",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-62-151"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "meal-rest-breaks",
        "label": "Are meal and rest breaks required, and are they paid?",
        "heading": "Are breaks required?",
        "answerText": "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.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-62-151-breaks",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.151",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.151.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.62.htm",
            "proposition": "Texas 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.",
            "verbatimQuote": "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.).",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-62-151-breaks"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "final-pay",
        "label": "When must final wages be paid on separation?",
        "heading": "When is final pay due?",
        "answerText": "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.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-61-014",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.014",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.014.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 61.014(a) requires an employer to pay a discharged employee in full no later than the sixth day after the date of discharge.",
            "verbatimQuote": "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.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-61-014"
          },
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-61-014-quit",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.014",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.014.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 61.014(b) requires an employer to pay an employee who leaves voluntarily in full no later than the next regularly scheduled payday.",
            "verbatimQuote": "An employer shall pay in full an employee who leaves employment other than by discharge not later than the next regularly scheduled payday.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-61-014-quit"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "late-pay-penalty",
        "label": "What is the penalty for paying wages late?",
        "heading": "What is the penalty for late pay?",
        "answerText": "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.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-61-053",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.053",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.053.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 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.",
            "verbatimQuote": "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.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-61-053"
          },
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-61-053-cap",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.053",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.053.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 61.053(c) caps the bad-faith administrative penalty at the lesser of the wages in question or $1,000.",
            "verbatimQuote": "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.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-61-053-cap"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "pay-frequency",
        "label": "How often must workers be paid?",
        "heading": "How often must workers be paid?",
        "answerText": "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.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-61-011",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.011",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.011.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 61.011(b) requires an employer to pay an employee who is not FLSA-exempt at least twice a month.",
            "verbatimQuote": "An employer shall pay wages to an employee other than an employee covered by Subsection (a) at least twice a month.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-61-011"
          },
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-61-011-exempt",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.011",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.011.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 61.011(a) allows an employer to pay an employee who is exempt from the FLSA overtime provisions at least once a month.",
            "verbatimQuote": "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.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-61-011-exempt"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "wage-statement",
        "label": "What must a wage statement contain?",
        "heading": "What must a pay stub show?",
        "answerText": "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.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-62-003",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.003",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.003.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.62.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 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.",
            "verbatimQuote": "At the end of each pay period, an employer shall give each employee a written earnings statement covering the pay period.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-62-003"
          },
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-62-003-contents",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.003",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.003.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.62.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 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.",
            "verbatimQuote": "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",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-62-003-contents"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "worker-classification",
        "label": "How does Texas decide employee vs. independent contractor?",
        "heading": "Employee or independent contractor?",
        "answerText": "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.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "limestone-mcnamara-right-to-control",
            "authorityType": "case-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Limestone Products Distribution, Inc. v. McNamara",
            "citation": "Limestone Products Distribution, Inc. v. McNamara, 71 S.W.3d 308, 312 (Tex. 2002).",
            "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1662534/limestone-products-distribution-inc-v-mcnamara/",
            "deepLink": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1662534/limestone-products-distribution-inc-v-mcnamara/#:~:text=The%20test%20to%20determine%20whether,of%20operations%20of%20the%20work.",
            "proposition": "The 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.",
            "verbatimQuote": "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.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-limestone-mcnamara-right-to-control"
          },
          {
            "id": "limestone-mcnamara-means-details",
            "authorityType": "case-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Limestone Products Distribution, Inc. v. McNamara",
            "citation": "Limestone Products Distribution, Inc. v. McNamara, 71 S.W.3d 308, 312 (Tex. 2002).",
            "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1662534/limestone-products-distribution-inc-v-mcnamara/",
            "deepLink": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1662534/limestone-products-distribution-inc-v-mcnamara/#:~:text=The%20employer%20controls%20not%20merely,and%20details%20of%20its%20accomplishment.",
            "proposition": "The court explained that an employer controls not merely the end sought to be accomplished but also the means and details of its accomplishment.",
            "verbatimQuote": "The employer controls not merely the end sought to be accomplished, but also the means and details of its accomplishment.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-limestone-mcnamara-means-details"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "tip-credit",
        "label": "Does Texas allow a tip credit?",
        "heading": "Is a tip credit allowed?",
        "answerText": "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.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-62-052",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.052",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.052.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.62.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 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.",
            "verbatimQuote": "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)).",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-62-052"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "enforcement",
        "label": "How is wage-and-hour law enforced, and can employees sue?",
        "heading": "How is it enforced?",
        "answerText": "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.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-61-051",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.051",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 61.051.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 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.",
            "verbatimQuote": "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.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-61-051"
          },
          {
            "id": "tex-lab-code-sec-62-201",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.201",
            "citation": "Texas Labor Code Sec. 62.201.",
            "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.62.htm",
            "proposition": "Section 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.",
            "verbatimQuote": "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.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/texas#src-tex-lab-code-sec-62-201"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}