New Texas Minimum Wage Law Provisions

While various states continue to raise their minimum wages, Texas’ minimum wage still stands at $7.25 per hour. This is similar to the federal minimum wage. According to SJR22, the state minimum wage amendment proposal, the minimum hourly rate is expected to increase to $10.00.

Based on the Texas minimum wage labor law, employers operating within the state are obligated to display the approved Texas minimum wage poster to ensure all employees are aware of their rights as provided for under minimum wage labor regulations.

As is the case in other states, employers in Texas are to pay nothing less than the required minimum pay of $7.25 per hour unless the employer’s field of operation is part of those exempted from provisions of the minimum wage law in accordance with the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The exemptions are intended to allow employers to get a high volume of temporary positions which ordinarily they may not be able to afford to fill. According to the minimum wage law, tipped workers may be paid a special cash minimum wage but must earn approximately $7.25 including tips. In Texas, tipped employees refer to any one person or persons earning $2 or more in tips per month.

Again, young employees working in Texas under the age of 20 get a special minimum wage of $4.25 per hour for the first 90 days of employment. When they exceed 90 days or attain age 20, they join the rest in earning the $7.25 minimum wage.

Students in college and high schools, on the other hand, earn a minimum of 85 percent of the minimum wage, which is approximately $6.16, so long as they are registered.

The law also allows any student from 16 years of age who is enrolled in a vocational school to earn 75 percent of the regular minimum wage. Non-profit and educational organizations can also apply for a certificate allowing them to hire workers for as little as 85 percent minimum wage.

Others are employees with disabilities who the Labor Act allows to receive a sub-minimum wage, after applying for a certificate from the Department of Labor which allows them to employ disabled workers.

Others exempted from receiving the minimum wages include:

• Informal employees e.g. Baby sitters
• Farm workers
• Newspaper deliverers
• Seasonal workers
• Prison inmates among others

Texas employers are required to display a copy of specific state and federal labor laws at conspicuous places in the workplace.  The Texas All-in-One Complete Poster package meets all state and federal posting requirements.

The Labor Law Center offers a worry-free service to our customers through our Poster Service Plan with automatic replacements.  What this means is that we monitor the state and federal postings and automatically send you updates when they are released.  It is that simple!

We also offer our clients our newly updated Education Center.  If you are new to labor law compliance or just wanting to keep up with the latest news and changes as they come out, this is the place to bookmark and visit regularly.