The Texas minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Texas does not set its own dollar figure; state law adopts whatever the federal minimum wage happens to be under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and that number has not moved since July 2009.1State of Texas. Texas Labor Code Section 62.051 – Minimum Wage Cities and counties in Texas cannot set a higher local floor, so the rate is the same in Houston, Dallas, Austin, and every small town in between.2Texas Workforce Commission. Texas Minimum Wage Law If Congress raises the federal number, Texas moves with it automatically.
Who Is Covered by the $7.25 Rate
The FLSA reaches Texas workers two ways. A business is covered as a whole if it has at least two employees and at least $500,000 in annual gross sales; hospitals, schools, preschools, and government agencies are covered regardless of revenue. Even at smaller businesses that fall below the revenue threshold, individual workers are protected if their own work touches interstate commerce. That definition is broad: making calls out of state, processing credit card payments, handling records tied to out-of-state business, or shipping goods across state lines all count.3U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 14 – Coverage Under the Fair Labor Standards Act In practice, nearly every job in the modern economy is covered.
When Employers Can Legally Pay Less Than $7.25
Federal law allows a handful of sub-minimum rates, but each one comes with conditions, and most require a government certificate the employer must obtain in advance.
Tipped Employees
If you regularly earn more than $30 a month in tips, your employer can pay a cash wage as low as $2.13 per hour and claim a “tip credit” of up to $5.12 to bridge the gap to $7.25.4U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 15 – Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act The tip credit is only legal if your tips actually get you to $7.25 for every hour in the workweek. When they don’t, the employer must pay the shortfall out of pocket.5U.S. Department of Labor. Tip Regulations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
Before taking the tip credit at all, your employer has to tell you (orally or in writing) the cash wage being paid, the credit being claimed, that the credit cannot exceed your actual tips, and that you keep your tips except in a valid tip pool. Skip the notice, lose the credit.4U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 15 – Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
Tip pools are allowed, but only among employees who customarily receive tips. Managers and supervisors are flatly barred from taking any share, even if they occasionally run food or cover a table.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 203 – Definitions
Workers Under 20
Employers can pay workers younger than 20 a training rate of $4.25 per hour for their first 90 consecutive calendar days on the job. The clock runs on calendar days from the first day of employment, not scheduled shifts, and ends when the 90 days expire or the worker turns 20, whichever comes first. Employers cannot push out existing workers to hire cheaper younger ones.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 206 – Minimum Wage
Students and Workers With Disabilities
Full-time students in retail, service, agriculture, or college jobs can be paid 85% of the minimum wage (about $6.16) under a Department of Labor certificate. Vocational student learners can be paid 75%.8U.S. Government Publishing Office. 29 USC 214 – Employment Under Special Certificates Under Section 14(c) of the FLSA, workers whose disabilities affect their productivity for the specific job can also be paid a sub-minimum rate, again only with a DOL certificate.9U.S. Department of Labor. Subminimum Wage An employer who hasn’t obtained the certificate owes the full $7.25.
Overtime
If the FLSA covers you and you aren’t in an exempt category, you’re owed overtime at one and one-half times your regular rate for every hour over 40 in a single workweek.10U.S. Department of Labor. Overtime Pay At the minimum wage, that’s $10.875 per overtime hour. Texas has no separate state overtime rule.
Overtime is calculated by the workweek. If you work 50 hours one week and 30 the next, you’re owed 10 hours of overtime for the first week. The employer cannot average the two weeks together to erase it.
Deductions and Retaliation
Employers can make some deductions from your pay (uniforms, tools, cash register shortages), but not if the deduction drops your effective hourly rate below $7.25 for the workweek. When a required uniform or tool would push you under the floor, the employer has to absorb the cost.
Complaining about unpaid wages, whether to your employer or to the government, is protected activity under federal law. Firing, demoting, cutting hours, or otherwise punishing a worker for raising a wage complaint is a separate FLSA violation, and the protection applies even if your underlying complaint turns out to be wrong, as long as you raised it in good faith.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 215 – Prohibited Acts
What to Do if You’re Being Paid Less Than $7.25
Texas workers have two separate places to file, with very different deadlines. You can use one, or in some cases both.
Texas Workforce Commission
The Texas Workforce Commission handles claims under the Texas Payday Law, which requires employers to pay what they owe in full and on time.12Texas Workforce Commission. Texas Payday Law – Wage Claim TWC does not audit employers on its own; a worker has to file.13Texas Workforce Commission. Wage Claim and Appeal Process in Texas The deadline is short: 180 days from when the wages were due.
U.S. Department of Labor
For FLSA minimum wage violations, you can call the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243.14U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Complaint Have your employer’s name and address ready, along with a manager’s name, a description of your job, when the violation occurred, and how you were paid.15Worker.gov. Filing a Complaint With the U.S. Department of Labors Wage and Hour Division DOL complaints are confidential; your name and the existence of the complaint are not disclosed to the employer.
What You Can Recover and How Long You Have
A successful federal claim gets you the unpaid wages plus liquidated damages equal to the unpaid amount, roughly doubling the payout. If you win in court, the employer must also pay your attorney’s fees and costs.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties
Federal claims have to be filed within two years of the violation, or three years if the employer’s violation was willful (they knew they were breaking the law or showed reckless disregard for it).17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 255 – Statute of Limitations Because the TWC window is only 180 days and the federal window is two or three years, missing the state deadline does not necessarily end your federal claim. If you’re close to either deadline, keep copies of your pay stubs, any schedules, and your own log of hours worked, and file as soon as you can.