Texas regulates the employment relationship with a light hand — but where it does regulate, the rules are specific, dated, and enforced through the Texas Workforce Commission. A Texas handbook mostly documents your choices; the trick is knowing which handful of clauses are not choices at all.
This is the map, drawn from the statute and agency texts themselves. Where our research has a limit, we say so in the open rather than paper over it.
Quick facts
| Topic | The rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Final pay, discharge | Pay in full "not later than the sixth day after the date the employee is discharged" | Tex. Lab. Code ch. 61 |
| Final pay, resignation | Pay in full "not later than the next regularly scheduled payday" | Tex. Lab. Code ch. 61 |
| Paydays | FLSA-exempt employees at least monthly; everyone else at least twice a month, in near-equal periods | Tex. Lab. Code ch. 61 |
| Payday notice | Post notices "in conspicuous places in the workplace... indicating the paydays" | Tex. Lab. Code ch. 61 |
| Minimum wage | The federal rate, adopted by reference | Tex. Lab. Code ch. 62 |
| Wage claims | File within 180 days after the wages became due | Tex. Lab. Code ch. 61 |
| Local ordinances | Preempted statewide | Tex. Lab. Code § 1.005 |
| Workplace-violence notice | Required posting, English and Spanish, since January 8, 2024 | TWC; 40 TAC § 800.600 (HB 915) |
| Biometrics | Notice and consent before capture; destruction deadline | Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 503.001 |
| AI discrimination | No developing or deploying AI with intent to unlawfully discriminate | Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 552.056 (eff. Jan. 1, 2026) |
The clauses that are not choices
Final pay runs on two clocks. Discharge an employee and the statute gives you six days: pay "in full... not later than the sixth day after the date the employee is discharged." An employee who "leaves employment other than by discharge" — resignation, job abandonment — is due final pay "not later than the next regularly scheduled payday." The statute defines "day" as a calendar day. A handbook that states one deadline for all separations is wrong in one direction or the other; write both.
One connected point employers miss: chapter 61's definition of wages reaches "vacation pay, holiday pay, sick leave pay, parental leave pay, or severance pay owed to an employee under a written agreement with the employer or under a written policy of the employer" — note those last words: a written policy of the employer. Texas does not force you to pay out unused PTO — but your own handbook can. If your written policy says accrued vacation is paid at separation, the Payday Law makes that promise collectable like wages. Write the payout policy you actually intend, because you will be held to it.
Paydays are scheduled by statute. Employees exempt from FLSA overtime must be paid at least once a month; all others at least twice a month, and "if wages are paid twice a month, each pay period must consist as nearly as possible of an equal number of days." You must post payday notices conspicuously, and if someone misses a payday — absence included — you pay "on another regular business day on the employee's request." Commissions and bonuses are "due according to the terms of" the parties' agreement — the statute points to "an agreement between the employee and employer" — which is a statutory reason to put commission terms in writing and keep the handbook consistent with the plan documents.
The wage-claim window is short. A TWC wage claim "must be filed not later than the 180th day after the date the wages claimed became due." That deadline binds employees, not you — but it shapes how long pay disputes stay live, and it is the enforcement channel your final-pay and deduction practices will be tested in.
Minimum wage is the federal rate. Chapter 62 adopts the federal minimum by reference, and the tipped-wage treatment follows FLSA section 3(m). A Texas handbook should not hardcode a dollar figure; state the rule and let the federal number govern.
Posters, including the 2024 addition. The TWC maintains the required-poster set. The one that trips up otherwise current employers: since January 8, 2024, Texas employers must post a Reporting Workplace Violence notice, in English and Spanish, in a conspicuous place — the requirement the TWC ties to HB 915 (88th Legislature) and 40 TAC § 800.600.
Two statutes for the technology sections. Business & Commerce Code § 503.001 requires informing an individual and receiving consent before capturing a biometric identifier (retina or iris scan, fingerprint, voiceprint, hand or face geometry) for a commercial purpose, protecting it with reasonable care, and destroying it within a reasonable time — no later than the first anniversary of when the collection purpose expires. If timekeeping runs on fingerprints or face scans, the handbook's consent language is doing legal work. And effective January 1, 2026, § 552.056 provides that a person "may not develop or deploy an artificial intelligence system with the intent to unlawfully discriminate against a protected class" — worth a sentence in the EEO policy if AI touches your hiring or evaluation tools.
The rule that deletes city ordinances
Labor Code § 1.005, effective September 1, 2023, preempts the field: a municipality or county "may not adopt, enforce, or maintain an ordinance, order, or rule regulating conduct in a field of regulation that is occupied by a provision of this code," and the occupied field expressly "includes employment leave, hiring practices, breaks, employment benefits, scheduling practices, and any other terms of employment that exceed or conflict with federal or state law." An ordinance that violates the section is "void, unenforceable, and inconsistent with this code."
Practical effect: a Texas handbook needs no Austin, Dallas or Houston supplement for leave, breaks, scheduling or benefits. One honest caveat on currency: litigation over this statute has moved through the courts — a 2025 court of appeals decision in the cities' challenge is in our files — so treat § 1.005 as the operative rule today and have counsel confirm status before you rely on it for anything contested.
What Texas leaves to you
No state law we found in chapters 61 and 62 requires paid sick leave, vacation, meal or rest breaks for adults, severance, or a particular PTO design. Those sections of a Texas handbook are company policy, and they matter precisely because — per the wage definition above — your written policy is what makes promised leave pay enforceable. Say what you mean, and only what you mean.
Where our map has edges
We publish what we verified and name what we did not. Our Texas research has five documented limits: we read Labor Code chapter 21's core discrimination sections but not every section of the chapter; we did not read the parking-lot firearms provisions (§§ 52.063–52.064), so this article makes no claim about them; the TWC's child-labor rules in 40 TAC chapter 817 are unread (minor-hours specifics are omitted here for that reason); the workplace-violence notice is cited to the TWC's poster page and 40 TAC § 800.600 rather than a Labor Code section; and chapter 61 quotes come from the TWC's published statute copy because the Legislature's site blocks automated retrieval. None of these gaps changes what is stated above; they bound what we were willing to state.
Sources
- Texas Labor Code ch. 61 (Payment of Wages / Texas Payday Law), TWC-published copy headed "87th Legislature, Effective September 1, 2021," twc.texas.gov, accessed October 10, 2026 (primary).
- Texas Labor Code ch. 62 (Texas Minimum Wage Act), TWC-published copy, twc.texas.gov, accessed October 10, 2026 (primary).
- Texas Labor Code § 1.005 (Preemption, HB 2127), Texas Legislature page, accessed October 10, 2026 (primary).
- Texas Business & Commerce Code § 503.001; § 552.056 (HB 149, eff. Jan. 1, 2026), Texas Legislature pages, accessed October 10, 2026 (primary; excerpts).
- Texas Workforce Commission, Required Workplace Posters (including the Reporting Workplace Violence notice, HB 915 / 40 TAC § 800.600), twc.texas.gov, accessed October 10, 2026 (primary: agency).
This article explains public law and how our tools handle it. It is not legal advice and has not been reviewed by an attorney.