JD HR SolutionsWritten HR for small businesses

Texas · Checked October 28, 2026 · Not legal advice

Texas final paycheck rules

Texas does set a deadline. If you discharge someone, the Texas Payday Law gives you six calendar days. If they resign, you have until the next regular payday. Unused vacation is yours to define in writing. If the writing promises it, you pay it.

Not legal advice. This is a summary of the Texas Payday Law and Texas Workforce Commission guidance for private employers. It is not a wage determination. JD HR Solutions is based in Florida. A Texas wage claim belongs with the Texas Workforce Commission or a lawyer licensed in Texas. The Florida HR Checkup does not review Texas payroll.

At a glance

SituationTexas Payday Law
Discharged, fired, or laid offPay in full within six calendar days. Labor Code section 61.014(a).
Quits, resigns, or retiresPay in full on the next regularly scheduled payday. Section 61.014(b).
Unused vacation, sick time, or holiday payNot required unless a written policy or agreement provides for it.
Policy is silent on payoutTWC's guidance says a silent policy is not enforceable as a payout under the Payday Law.
OvertimeNo Texas daily overtime. Covered nonexempt employees follow the federal 40-hour week.
Minimum wageTexas does not set a higher floor. Covered employers pay at least the federal $7.25.

Six days means calendar days

Labor Code section 61.014 says an employer shall pay in full an employee who is discharged not later than the sixth day after the discharge. "In full" is doing real work in that sentence. The Texas Workforce Commission tells employers they cannot hold the final paycheck past the deadline because property wasn't returned, a timesheet wasn't signed, or a similar condition wasn't met. If you know what the wages are, you pay them on time. Unreturned property is a separate problem. TWC discusses deduction agreements and even sample language, and it tells employers those agreements are tricky enough to have a lawyer review before anyone signs them. Don't copy a sample off a website, including this one, into a handbook and assume it works.

If the employee quits, payment is due on the next regularly scheduled payday after the resignation takes effect. TWC treats "who walked away" as a facts question, using the same kind of voluntary-versus-involuntary look it uses in unemployment cases. If you are unsure which box you are in, pay on the earlier deadline. Six days is not long.

TWC also says that if a written policy sets a different payout schedule for a fringe benefit, that schedule can control the fringe benefit. Regular wages still follow section 61.014.

Vacation and PTO

The Payday Law does not require you to offer vacation. If you offer it in a written policy, you follow the policy. TWC's vacation guidance is blunt about silence: if the policy never says what happens to unused leave at separation, the agency will not enforce a payout under the Payday Law. Courts can still look at a contract. The practical fix is a written sentence employees see before the time accrues: paid out, forfeited, or paid out only in circumstances you are willing to live with.

Use the PTO calculator for the hours. Then read your own policy before you add those hours to a final check.

Wages, overtime, and pay frequency

Texas has not adopted a minimum wage above the federal rate. Employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act owe at least $7.25 an hour, and overtime at 1.5× the regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek for nonexempt employees. There is no Texas premium for weekends or holidays unless you promised one. The overtime calculator in weekly mode matches that pattern. It will not apply a tip credit for you. The federal tipped cash wage is still a separate FLSA rule, and tips have to bring the employee to at least minimum wage.

TWC's payday overview: employees who are exempt from federal overtime must be paid at least once a month. Everyone else must be paid at least twice a month. Paydays have to be posted. Those rules sit next to the final-pay deadline. A business that pays monthly and then fires a nonexempt employee still has the six-day clock. The monthly schedule does not extend it.

Before you run the last check

  1. Name the separation

    Discharge starts a six-day clock. A resignation waits until the next payday. If you ended it, don't call it a resignation to buy time.

  2. Pay wages you can calculate

    Missing equipment is not a reason to miss the deadline.

  3. Open the PTO policy

    Pay only what the writing promises. If the writing is silent, don't invent a payout for one person.

  4. Send commissions through the plan

    TWC says commission and bonus timing follows the agreement. Have the agreement, not a memory of it.

Other states on this site

Sources

General information, not legal advice. Payday Law coverage has exceptions, including some employers and some kinds of pay. Read the statute or ask the Texas Workforce Commission before you assume a claim can be filed there.