Texas does not require private employers to provide paid leave for employees. There is no state law mandating paid sick days, paid family leave, paid vacation, or any other form of paid time off in the private sector. Whether you get paid leave, and how much, depends entirely on what your employer decides to offer in its own policy or employment contract. The only federal backstop is the Family and Medical Leave Act, which guarantees unpaid, job-protected time off for workers who qualify.
What Your Employer Actually Has to Give You
For paid sick time, paid vacation, paid parental leave, or paid PTO of any kind, Texas sets no floor. If your employer offers nothing, that is legal. If your employer offers two weeks of PTO, five weeks, or an unlimited policy, that is also legal. The rules governing how you earn leave, when you can use it, how much you can carry over, and what happens to unused time are set by your employer’s written policy.
Read your employee handbook carefully. For paid leave purposes, that document is functionally the law that governs you. If a question comes up about accrual, approval, or forfeiture, the handbook is where the answer lives.
One point catches many Texas workers off guard at the end of a job: no state or federal law requires your employer to pay out unused vacation or PTO when you leave the company.1Texas Workforce Commission. Vacation and Sick Leave – Texas Guidebook for Employers Whether you get that payout depends on the policy. If the handbook says unused PTO is forfeited at separation, that language is generally enforceable. Check before you assume there is a check coming.
Short-Term Disability Is Also Optional
Texas does not require private employers to provide short-term disability insurance either. Many offer it as a voluntary benefit, typically replacing 40 to 70 percent of base salary for a limited period when a non-work-related illness or injury keeps you from working. Employer-paid plans may kick in automatically; employee-paid plans require enrollment during an open enrollment window. The details sit in the summary plan description, not the employee handbook.
Why No Texas City Can Require Paid Sick Leave Either
Between 2018 and 2020, Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio each passed local ordinances requiring private employers to provide earned paid sick time, generally one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. All three were struck down. In Texas Association of Business v. City of Austin, the Third Court of Appeals ruled in November 2018 that Austin’s ordinance was preempted by the Texas Minimum Wage Act, reasoning that the mandate amounted to a local wage requirement conflicting with state law. San Antonio’s ordinance fell on the same basis in March 2021, and a federal district judge enjoined the Dallas ordinance in March 2020. The practical result: no Texas city can force private employers to provide paid leave unless the state legislature authorizes it, and no such authorization exists.
The Federal Backstop: FMLA Leave Is Unpaid
The main federal protection available to Texas workers is the Family and Medical Leave Act. It provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. Unpaid is the default, though you can choose to use accrued PTO or sick time during the absence, and your employer can require you to. Either way, the job protection stays in place.
Who Qualifies
FMLA eligibility has three requirements you must meet at the same time. You need to have worked for your employer for at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours during those 12 months, and work at a location where your employer has 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius.2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28 – The Family and Medical Leave Act That last requirement disqualifies many workers at smaller companies or remote sites. If your employer has 50 total employees spread across offices more than 75 miles apart, your worksite may not meet the threshold.3eCFR. 29 CFR 825.111 – Determining Whether 50 Employees Are Employed Within 75 Miles
What FMLA Leave Covers
FMLA leave covers five categories of need:4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2612 – Leave Requirement
- The birth of your child and bonding with the newborn during the first year.
- A child being placed with you for adoption or foster care.
- Caring for your spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition. Siblings, in-laws, and grandparents are not covered under the standard 12-week entitlement.
- Your own serious health condition that prevents you from doing your job.
- Urgent needs arising from a spouse’s, child’s, or parent’s active-duty military deployment.
Layering Paid Leave on Top
Federal regulations let both you and your employer layer paid benefits on top of unpaid FMLA time. You can choose to use accrued vacation, sick time, or PTO during the FMLA period, and your employer can also require you to do so.5eCFR. 29 CFR 825.207 – Substitution of Paid Leave When the paid leave runs concurrently, you get your regular paycheck while the job protection continues. One detail most people miss: if your employer requires the substitution, you still have to follow the normal procedures for the paid leave (right forms, documentation). Fall short on those and you can lose the pay, though the unpaid FMLA protection stays intact.
Narrow Situations Where Texas Does Require Something
Voting Time
Texas law requires employers to provide paid time off for voting on election days, but only if you do not already have at least two consecutive hours to vote outside your scheduled work hours.6Texas Workforce Commission. Voting – Time Off – Texas Guidebook for Employers If your shift leaves you fewer than two free hours while polls are open, your employer must give you enough paid time to vote. If your schedule already allows that window, no paid time is required.
Jury Duty
Texas does not require private employers to pay hourly employees for time spent on jury duty. Salaried exempt employees are treated differently: if a salaried exempt worker serves on a jury for part of a workweek, the employer still owes the full week’s salary.7Texas Workforce Commission. Jury Duty – Texas Guidebook for Employers Pay aside, your job is protected under the Juror’s Right to Reemployment Act, so your employer cannot fire or penalize you for serving.
Workers’ Compensation
Texas is unusual in that most private employers are not required to carry workers’ compensation insurance.8Texas Department of Insurance. Workers Compensation Insurance Guide If your employer does carry it and you are hurt on the job, workers’ comp provides wage replacement while you recover. If your employer has opted out, you lose that safety net but can sue the employer directly for a workplace injury, and the employer loses several key legal defenses. Whether your employer subscribes affects what paid time, if any, you receive after a workplace injury.
State Employees Have Access to Leave Pools
Texas state employees operate under a separate system in Texas Government Code Chapter 661, which creates two collective leave programs not available in the private sector: a sick leave pool and a family leave pool.9State of Texas. Texas Government Code Chapter 661 – Leave State agencies must establish a sick leave pool where employees can donate unused hours, and a coworker facing a catastrophic illness or injury can apply to draw from it after exhausting their own balances. The family leave pool uses the same donation model and covers the birth of a child, adoption or foster placement, care of a seriously ill family member, or circumstances created by an ongoing pandemic. Both programs are strictly for public-sector workers. Private employers have no obligation to create anything similar.
If Your Employer Breaks the FMLA Rules
Federal law makes it illegal for your employer to fire, demote, or otherwise punish you for requesting or taking FMLA leave, or for filing a complaint about FMLA violations.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2615 – Prohibited Acts The protection covers obvious cases like being fired the day you return from leave, and also subtler interference such as an employer discouraging you from applying or shifting your responsibilities to push you out.
If the law is violated, you can recover lost wages and benefits, interest on those amounts, and an equal amount in liquidated damages, which effectively doubles the back-pay recovery. Courts can order reinstatement to your former position with equivalent duties, pay, and benefits. Attorney fees and court costs are recoverable on top.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2617 – Enforcement A court will impose the liquidated damages unless the employer proves the violation was both in good faith and based on reasonable grounds, which is a high bar.
To file a complaint, contact the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243 or through its online portal. Complaints are confidential, and the agency does not disclose your name to the employer.12U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Complaint You can also file a private lawsuit in federal or state court without going through the agency first.