The current minimum wage in Texas is the federal minimum wage rate of $7.25 an hour.
Tipped employees are required to be paid a minimum wage of $2.13 an hour, which was adopted from the federal minimum tipped wage rate set forth by the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Texas does not have its own laws regarding overtime pay, so federal overtime laws apply. The Fair Labor Standards Act always requires that non-exempt employees be paid 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
The federal overtime laws stipulate that the minimum salary requirement for administrative, professional, and executive exemptions is $684 per week, or $35,568 per year.
There are no laws requiring an employer to provide a meal or rest break to employees, so the federal law applies, which says if an employer does choose to provide a break (usually less than 20 minutes) it must be paid.
A meal or lunch break that is 30 minutes or longer does not need to be paid if the employee is allowed to leave the premise and is relieved of all duties.
Retail employers must allow employees who have more than 30 hours worked in a week at least 24 consecutive hours off work in every seven-day period, according to the Texas Department of Labor.
In addition, they must grant an employee’s request for time off to attend worship services once a week, unless it would be an undue hardship on the business.