Overtime in Texas
Daily overtime
Texas has no daily overtime rule. Working fourteen hours on Monday produces no overtime unless the week as a whole passes forty hours. Only California, Alaska, Nevada and Colorado count overtime by the day.
Weekly overtime
Texas has no state overtime statute of its own. The Texas Minimum Wage Act expressly does not apply to employees who are covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, so for most workers the FLSA is the whole of the law: one and a half times the regular rate for hours over forty in a workweek.
The seventh consecutive day
Texas has no seventh-consecutive-day premium and no general day-of-rest requirement for adult private-sector employees. That rule exists only in California.
How often you must be paid
Under the Texas Payday Law, an employee who is exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act must be paid at least once a month. Every other employee must be paid at least twice a month, and the two pay periods should contain as nearly as possible an equal number of days. Employers who do not designate paydays are treated as having chosen the 1st and the 15th.
When your last paycheck is due
This is the question people search for most, and in several states the answer depends on whether you left or were let go. In Texas:
- If you were fired or laid off: Within 6 calendar days of the discharge.
- If you quit: On the next regularly scheduled payday.
This is the field where Texas is genuinely different, and the difference cuts both ways. If you are discharged, laid off or otherwise let go, the employer has six calendar days from your last day to pay you — a real deadline, and a short one. If you resign, there is no accelerated deadline at all: your final wages are due on the next regularly scheduled payday. Being fired therefore gets you paid faster than quitting in Texas, which surprises most people.
Meal and rest breaks
Texas requires no meal period for adult employees. Nothing in state law obliges an employer to give you a lunch break at all, and an employer may lawfully schedule an eight-hour shift with no break in it.
Texas requires no rest breaks either. Federal rules still decide whether a break you do get is paid: a break of less than twenty minutes counts as working time and must be paid, and a meal period of thirty minutes or more may be unpaid only if you are completely relieved of duty for the whole of it. Being told to eat at your desk while covering the phone is working time, and it is paid.
The Texas minimum wage
Texas sets no rate of its own. The Texas Minimum Wage Act adopts the federal minimum wage by reference, which has been $7.25 an hour since July 2009. Texas law also prevents cities and counties from setting a higher local minimum wage for private employers, so $7.25 is the floor everywhere in the state.
Figure checked 26 July 2026, effective 24 July 2009. Minimum wages move on a schedule and local ordinances move on their own — if you are reading this well after that date, check the agency link below before relying on the number.
If you have not been paid
The Texas Payday Law is enforced by the Texas Workforce Commission, which investigates wage claims at no cost. Unpaid overtime under the federal FLSA is a separate route — that goes to the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division or to a federal court.
Deadline: 180 days from the date the wages were originally due. This is the shortest window of the eight states on this site, and TWC uses the date it receives the claim.
What this page does not cover
- Whether the rules apply to you at all. Overtime and break rules apply to non-exempt employees. If you are genuinely exempt, or an independent contractor, most of this page is not about you — and misclassification is common enough that being called exempt is not the same as being exempt.
- Local ordinances. Cities and counties set their own minimum wages, paid sick leave and, in some places, scheduling rules. Only the state-level position is described here.
- Industry-specific rules. Agriculture, transport, health care, public employment and several other sectors carry their own wage orders and exemptions that override the general position.
- Your contract or union agreement, which can promise more than the law requires — never less.
- This is not legal advice. It is a cited summary of published law, written to be checked. The agency above answers questions for free.
Common questions
Does Texas have daily overtime?
No. Texas has no state overtime law at all; the federal weekly rule applies, so overtime starts after forty hours in a workweek regardless of how long any single day was.
When is my final paycheck due in Texas if I am fired?
Within six calendar days of the discharge. If you resign instead, there is no six-day rule — your final wages are due on the next regularly scheduled payday.
Does my employer have to give me a lunch break in Texas?
No. Texas requires no meal or rest breaks for adult employees. If your employer does give you a break, federal rules decide whether it is paid: under twenty minutes must be paid, and a thirty-minute meal may be unpaid only if you are fully relieved of duty.
How long do I have to file a wage claim in Texas?
One hundred and eighty days from the date the wages were due. That is a short window compared with most states, and missing it generally ends the administrative route.
What is the minimum wage in Texas in 2026?
Seven dollars twenty-five an hour. Texas adopts the federal minimum wage and bars cities from setting a higher local rate for private employers.