Texas Overtime Laws 2026: Federal FLSA Rules Explained

Texas Overtime Laws in 2026

Texas does not have its own state overtime law, meaning all overtime regulations in the Lone Star State come directly from the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Here's what Texas workers need to know.

The 40-Hour Rule

Under FLSA (and therefore Texas law):

• Overtime begins after 40 hours in a workweek
• Overtime rate is 1.5× your regular hourly rate
• There is NO daily overtime requirement

Example:

• Hourly rate: $15/hour
• Work 50 hours in a week
• Regular pay: 40 × $15 = $600
• Overtime pay: 10 × $22.50 = $225
• Total: $825

No Daily Overtime in Texas

Unlike California, Texas has no daily overtime threshold. You could work 14 hours in a single day and not earn overtime—as long as your weekly total stays at or below 40 hours.

Texas Minimum Wage

Texas follows the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour, which has remained unchanged since 2009. Your overtime rate would be:

• Regular: $7.25/hour
• Overtime: $10.88/hour

Exempt Employees in Texas

The same federal exemptions apply:

• Executive, administrative, professional employees
• Outside sales workers
• Computer professionals earning $27.63+/hour
• Must earn $684+/week on salary basis

Filing an Overtime Claim

If your Texas employer hasn't paid proper overtime:

• . Document hours worked and pay received
• . Contact the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division
• . File within 2 years (3 years for willful violations)
• . Consider consulting an employment attorney

Use Our Texas Calculator

Calculate your exact overtime pay with our Texas Overtime Calculator.

Who is actually covered in Texas

FLSA coverage reaches almost every Texas workplace, either through enterprise coverage (a business with at least $500,000 in annual sales) or individual coverage (an employee who handles goods, calls, emails or credit-card transactions that cross state lines). In practice, that second route sweeps in most small shops, restaurants and clinics that assume they are too small to owe overtime. Texas adds no broader coverage of its own, so if a worker falls outside FLSA — some farm labor, certain seasonal amusement work, casual babysitting — there is no state statute to fall back on.

Common Texas overtime mistakes

The three problems we see most in Texas paychecks are all math problems, not legal ones. First, employers average two weeks of a semi-monthly pay period, so 30 hours one week and 50 the next shows as "no overtime" when 10 hours of premium pay are owed. Second, non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials and per-diem overpayments are left out of the regular rate, which understates every overtime hour that week. Third, oil-and-gas and construction crews are paid a flat day rate and treated as exempt; a day rate does not create an exemption, and the regular rate is the day-rate total divided by hours actually worked.

Salaried does not mean exempt

Texas has no state salary threshold, so the federal executive, administrative and professional tests control. A salary alone never makes a worker exempt — the duties test must also be met, and job titles carry no weight. Assistant managers who spend most of a shift running a register, dispatchers, IT support technicians and inside sales staff paid on salary are frequent misclassification targets in Texas.

Filing an unpaid overtime claim in Texas

There is no Texas wage-and-hour agency for private overtime disputes. Two routes exist: file a wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission under the Texas Payday Law (Tex. Lab. Code ch. 61) within 180 days of the date the wages were due, or file an FLSA claim with the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division or in federal court within two years — three years if the violation was willful. FLSA claims can recover the unpaid overtime plus an equal amount in liquidated damages and attorney's fees, which is why most larger Texas cases go the federal route.

Records that win Texas cases

Keep your own copy of clock-in and clock-out times, pay stubs, schedules and any text asking you to stay late or come in early. Under FLSA the employer must keep accurate time records; when those records are missing or clearly wrong, a worker's own reasonable reconstruction can carry the claim. Photograph the schedule on the wall and forward shift-change texts to a personal email so nothing disappears when a job ends.