One place for the whole picture: every federal and Texas employment law that reaches Texas employers, when each one switches on, what it actually requires — and what genuinely changed in 2025 and 2026.
Most employers do not have a "what changed" problem. They have a "what applies to us at all" problem — and a change only matters once you know which laws you were already carrying. So this page does both. It opens with what genuinely changed, then lays out the complete set of federal and Texas employment laws that reach Texas employers, whether or not they changed this year, organized by the headcount at which each one switches on.
Entries are tagged Changed for recent developments, In effect for stable obligations you already owe, and Watch for unsettled areas. Last updated August 1, 2026. Legal developments move and agency positions shift; verify current status before acting on any entry, and treat this page as orientation rather than legal advice.
Texas legislates in odd-numbered years, so the 2025 session set most of what is new here. We track changes that alter what employers must actually do, and skip the noise.
Effective January 1, 2026. Texas's general AI governance statute applies to entities that develop or deploy AI systems in Texas. For employers, the central provision prohibits developing or deploying an AI system with the intent to unlawfully discriminate against a protected class, and the law carries notice-related obligations. Enforcement runs through the Texas Attorney General, with notice-and-cure provisions before penalties attach.
What to do: Inventory every tool that touches hiring or management — including features quietly added to your existing applicant tracking system or HRIS, which is where most employers discover they are already deploying AI. Adopt a written AI use policy, and document human review of consequential decisions. Note that intent is the statutory trigger, but a tool producing disparate outcomes still creates ordinary discrimination exposure under Title VII and Chapter 21 regardless of intent. Start with our TRAIGA overview for employers, using AI to screen applicants, and what an AI use policy should say.
Effective September 1, 2025. Texas voided confidentiality and nondisclosure provisions to the extent they prevent a person from disclosing an act of sexual abuse or assault, or facts related to it. The provision reaches agreements of any kind, including employment agreements and settlement agreements, and applies regardless of when the agreement was signed. Other settlement terms, such as payment amounts, may generally still be kept confidential.
What to do: Pull your separation agreement, settlement, and offer letter templates and have the confidentiality clause reviewed. Template language drafted before September 2025 is likely to be unenforceable in part, and continuing to present an unenforceable clause to a departing employee is a poor position to be discovered in later.
Effective September 1, 2025, for agreements entered into or renewed on or after that date. Texas tightened non-compete rules for physicians and, for the first time, extended comparable restrictions to other health care practitioners including dentists, licensed nurses, and physician assistants. The amendments impose limits on duration, a geographic radius restriction, and a cap on the buyout amount an agreement may require.
What to do: Any Texas employer with clinical staff under restrictive covenants — including clinics, home health agencies, and municipalities employing nurses or EMS clinicians — should have current templates reviewed against the amended statute before the next renewal cycle. Confirm the precise limits with counsel; the specifics govern enforceability. Background on the general rule is in our Texas non-compete FAQ.
Applies to claims filed with the Texas Workforce Commission on or after January 1, 2026. Texas changed the definition of "last work" and of the person for whom a claimant last worked, removing the prior 30-hours-in-a-week test. The practical effect is that a brief intervening job is less able to displace the prior employer as the relevant separation for benefit eligibility.
What to do: Do not assume a claim is somebody else's problem because the employee worked somewhere briefly after leaving you. Respond to every TWC notice within the stated window, on the facts, with documentation. Chargebacks aside, the factual record created in an unemployment proceeding routinely resurfaces in later discrimination or wrongful termination matters. See what to say in an unemployment claim response and which records matter.
Resolved in 2026. This was an open watch item for two years and no longer is. The 2024 rule raising the white-collar exemption salary threshold was vacated in litigation, and the Department of Labor restored the prior figure of $684 per week — $35,568 annually — by rule in May 2026. Texas sets no separate state salary threshold, so the federal number governs here, unlike the several states that raised their own thresholds in January.
What to do: Audit exempt roles against the operative figure, and remember that salary is the easy half. Misclassification overwhelmingly happens on the duties test, not the salary test — a salaried title, a supervisor label, and a fixed paycheck create no exemption on their own. Use the exempt vs. nonexempt checker and read whether a salary makes someone exempt.
Signed July 4, 2025; deduction years 2025 through 2028; stricter W-2 reporting from tax year 2026. Federal law created a temporary income tax deduction for qualified overtime premium pay and qualified tips, claimed by employees at filing. The employer obligation is reporting: qualified amounts must be identified on Form W-2, with transition relief that applied for 2025 and firmer expectations from tax year 2026 forward.
What to do: Confirm now — in writing — that your payroll system isolates the overtime premium portion rather than total overtime pay, and that your provider will report it correctly. This is a data-architecture question, not a December question. Run the payroll reporting readiness checker, read what the law means for Texas employers, and verify specifics with your CPA.
January 2025. Executive Order 14173 revoked Executive Order 11246, which had been the basis for OFCCP-administered affirmative action obligations for federal contractors, with a wind-down period for existing obligations. Obligations under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and under VEVRAA are statutory and were not revoked by that order.
What to do: This reaches more Texas organizations than people expect — municipalities, nonprofits, and universities holding federal contracts or subcontracts, not just defense suppliers. If you maintained written affirmative action programs, get current guidance on what remains required before you dismantle anything, since the disability and veteran obligations sit on different legal footing than the revoked order.
The FTC's attempted nationwide non-compete ban was blocked in court and did not take effect, leaving state law in control. In Texas that means the long-standing rule still governs: a non-compete must be ancillary to an otherwise enforceable agreement and reasonable in duration, geography, and scope of activity — with the tighter health care rules described above layered on top.
What to do: Review agreements for overreach rather than assuming either a federal ban or blanket enforceability. Texas courts will reform an unreasonable covenant, but an employer relying on a plainly overbroad clause to deter departures is making a bet it will lose the moment it is tested.
The most common misconception we encounter in Texas is that small employers are broadly exempt from employment law. They are not. What is true is that obligations arrive in steps — and organizations that grew steadily tend to be operating under the rule set that applied when they were half the size.
| Law | Applies at | What it requires of you |
|---|---|---|
| From your first employee | ||
| Fair Labor Standards Act Federal | 1+ (through enterprise or individual coverage) | Minimum wage, overtime at time and a half over 40 hours in a workweek, exemption tests, child labor rules, and payroll recordkeeping. |
| Equal Pay Act Federal | 1+ | Equal pay for substantially equal work regardless of sex, unless a permitted factor explains the difference. |
| Form I-9 / IRCA Federal | 1+ | Verify identity and work authorization for every hire, on the required timeline, retained for the required period. |
| USERRA Federal | 1+ | Job protection, reemployment rights, and freedom from discrimination for military service members. |
| PUMP Act Federal | 1+ (limited small-employer hardship provision) | Reasonable break time and a private, non-bathroom space for nursing employees. |
| OSH Act general duty clause Federal | 1+ | A workplace free of recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious harm, plus applicable standards and the anti-retaliation provision. |
| National Labor Relations Act Federal | 1+ (private sector) | Protects employees' right to discuss wages and working conditions together, union or not. Policies barring discussion of pay are a frequent violation. |
| Section 1981 Federal | 1+ | Race discrimination in contracts, including employment, with no employee-count threshold and a longer filing period than Title VII. |
| Texas Payday Law Texas | 1+ | Pay frequency, final pay timing, and written authorization for most deductions. Enforced by the TWC on employee wage claims. |
| Texas sexual harassment provisions Texas | 1+ | Since 2021, sexual harassment obligations reach employers of any size and can extend to individuals acting directly in the employer's interest. Requires immediate and appropriate corrective action. |
| Texas new hire reporting Texas | 1+ | Report each new hire to the state directory within 20 calendar days. |
| Texas EITC notice Texas | 1+ | Annual notice to employees about the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, by March 1. |
| Texas workers' compensation election Texas | 1+ | Either carry coverage, or file, post, and give notice as a non-subscriber. Political subdivisions must provide coverage. |
| TRAIGA Texas | 1+ (if you develop or deploy AI) | No AI system deployed with intent to unlawfully discriminate; notice obligations; AG enforcement with notice and cure. |
| At 4 or more employees | ||
| INA anti-discrimination provision Federal | 4+ | Prohibits citizenship status discrimination, and national origin discrimination for employers with 4 to 14 employees — filling the gap below Title VII's threshold. Also bars document abuse during I-9 verification. Frequently overlooked by small employers who believe no discrimination law reaches them yet. |
| At 11 or more employees | ||
| OSHA injury recordkeeping Federal | More than 10, unless partially exempt by industry | Maintain the 300 log, post the 300A summary February 1 through April 30, retain records five years, and submit electronically if your establishment meets the criteria. |
| At 15 or more employees — the largest jump in exposure | ||
| Title VII Federal | 15+ | No discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex including pregnancy and sexual orientation and gender identity, or national origin. Anti-retaliation, and religious accommodation. |
| Americans with Disabilities Act Federal | 15+ | Reasonable accommodation through a documented interactive process, no disability discrimination, and strict limits on medical inquiries and separate confidential medical files. |
| Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Federal | 15+ | Reasonable accommodation for pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, on an interactive process mirroring the ADA's. |
| GINA Federal | 15+ | No use of genetic information, including family medical history, in employment decisions; strict handling rules when it is inadvertently received. |
| Texas Labor Code Chapter 21 Texas | 15+ | The state analogue to Title VII and the ADA, enforced by the TWC Civil Rights Division, with a 180-day filing deadline that is shorter than the federal window. |
| At 20 or more employees | ||
| Age Discrimination in Employment Act Federal | 20+ | No discrimination against workers 40 and older, and specific waiver requirements when age claims are released in a separation agreement. |
| COBRA Federal | 20+ with a group health plan | Continuation coverage with strict notice deadlines running from each qualifying event. Smaller Texas employers may instead owe state continuation. |
| At 50 or more employees | ||
| Family and Medical Leave Act Federal | 50+ in 20 or more workweeks, with a 75-mile worksite test per employee | Up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for eligible employees, with tight notice and designation deadlines and restoration rights. |
| ACA employer mandate Federal | 50+ full-time equivalents | Offer affordable minimum-value coverage to full-time employees, and file Forms 1094-C and 1095-C. Part-time hours aggregate into the count. |
| EEO-1 for federal contractors Federal | 50+ with a covered contract of $50,000 or more | Annual demographic workforce reporting during the EEOC's filing window. |
| At 100 or more employees | ||
| EEO-1 Component 1 Federal | 100+ private employers | Annual demographic workforce data filed with the EEOC. |
| WARN Act Federal | 100+ | 60 days' advance written notice before a qualifying plant closing or mass layoff. Texas has no separate state mini-WARN statute. |
Scroll the table sideways on smaller screens. Thresholds are summarized for orientation; each statute counts employees by its own rules, and several look back across the prior calendar year.
Texas adds almost nothing here, which surprises employers. The state adopts the federal minimum wage and has no state overtime statute, so the FLSA is doing nearly all the work — and it is also where the largest share of quiet, accumulating liability sits.
The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour governs in Texas, which adopts it rather than setting a higher figure. Overtime is owed at one and a half times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek — and "regular rate" is the trap: non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and certain incentive pay must be folded into it, so paying a bonus alongside overtime rather than into the calculation quietly underpays every affected week. Exemption requires satisfying the duties test, the salary basis test, and the salary level test of $684 per week; failing any one of the three defeats the exemption regardless of title or salary.
Part of the FLSA and applicable from the first employee. Equal pay for substantially equal work requiring equal skill, effort, and responsibility under similar conditions, unless the difference is explained by seniority, merit, a system measuring quantity or quality of production, or another factor other than sex. Notably, an employer cannot cure a violation by lowering the higher-paid employee's wage.
Extends reasonable break time and a private, functional, non-bathroom space for nursing employees to nearly all employers, with remedies available for violations. Practical compliance is usually a space and scheduling problem rather than a policy problem.
Covered in the changelog above. The employer-side obligation is reporting qualified overtime premium pay and qualified tips on Form W-2, which requires your payroll system to separate the premium portion from base pay — a data question most systems were not originally built to answer.
These are the statutes that generate charges. Almost all of them turn less on the decision itself than on whether the employer can show the process that produced it.
Applies at 15 employees. Prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex — including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity — and national origin, and separately prohibits retaliation against anyone who complains or participates in an investigation. Retaliation is worth isolating: it is consistently among the most frequently alleged bases nationally, and it is the one claim an employer can lose after winning on the underlying allegation, simply by handling the aftermath badly.
Applies at 15 employees. Requires reasonable accommodation absent undue hardship, arrived at through an interactive process that must be genuine and documented as it happens. It also restricts medical inquiries and requires medical information to be kept in files separate from the ordinary personnel file. The most expensive ADA mistakes we see are not refusals — they are silences, where a request sat unanswered while a supervisor decided how to feel about it.
Applies at 15 employees. Requires reasonable accommodation for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, through an interactive process modeled on the ADA's. The accommodations at issue are usually modest — seating, water, schedule adjustments, lifting limits, additional restroom breaks — which is precisely why refusals look so bad in hindsight.
Applies at 20 employees, protecting workers 40 and older. It carries a specific technical trap: waiving an age claim in a separation agreement requires particular language, consideration and revocation periods, and additional disclosures in a group termination. A release that would validly waive other claims can fail entirely as to age if those requirements are not met.
Three that rarely appear on employer checklists. GINA, at 15 employees, bars use of genetic information including family medical history — which most often becomes an issue through casually collected wellness or medical certification information. Section 1981 covers race discrimination in contracting with no headcount threshold and a longer filing period, meaning it can reach a very small employer years after the fact. And the Immigration and Nationality Act's anti-discrimination provision reaches employers with as few as four employees for citizenship status, and covers national origin for employers with 4 to 14 employees, filling the gap beneath Title VII along with prohibiting document abuse during I-9 verification.
Deadline-driven statutes, where the violation is usually a date rather than a decision.
Applies at 50 employees in 20 or more workweeks, with eligibility further limited to employees at a worksite with 50 employees within 75 miles who have worked 12 months and 1,250 hours. Up to 12 weeks of job-protected, generally unpaid leave, with restoration rights. The notice deadlines are where employers lose: eligibility and rights-and-responsibilities notices within five business days of a request, and a designation notice within five business days of having enough information.
Federal COBRA applies to employers with 20 or more employees sponsoring a group health plan, with notice deadlines running from each qualifying event rather than from a calendar date. Texas employers below that threshold are generally looking at state continuation coverage instead, which many small employers do not realize exists and therefore never offer.
At 50 full-time equivalents an employer becomes an applicable large employer, owing an offer of affordable minimum-value coverage to full-time employees and annual Forms 1094-C and 1095-C. The count aggregates part-time hours, so seasonal and part-time-heavy operations cross the line while believing they are well under it.
Governs employer-sponsored health and retirement plans: fiduciary duties, plan documents, summary plan descriptions, Form 5500 filings, and participant disclosures. Most small employers experience ERISA entirely through their broker, which is fine until a participant asks for a plan document the employer has never seen.
USERRA applies from the first employee and provides reemployment rights and protection from discrimination for service members — a live issue for Texas employers given the state's substantial Guard and Reserve population. The WARN Act applies at 100 employees and requires 60 days' written notice before a qualifying plant closing or mass layoff; Texas has no separate state mini-WARN law, so the federal thresholds are the only ones in play.
The general duty clause applies to every employer, alongside industry-specific standards, hazard communication, training, and a strong anti-retaliation provision protecting employees who raise safety concerns. Injury recordkeeping begins above ten employees unless the industry is partially exempt. Serious-incident reporting runs on short clocks — 8 hours for a fatality, 24 hours for an inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye.
Every employer verifies identity and work authorization: Section 1 by the first day of work for pay, Section 2 within three business days, retention for three years after hire or one year after termination, whichever is later. Penalties are assessed per form, which is why a repeated procedural habit is far more dangerous than an isolated error. Remote hiring has made consistency harder, and the anti-discrimination rules cut both ways — demanding specific documents from some employees and not others is itself a violation.
The statute most commonly misunderstood as irrelevant to non-union employers. Section 7 protects employees' right to engage in concerted activity about wages, hours, and working conditions whether or not a union exists anywhere in the picture. Handbook provisions barring employees from discussing pay with each other, blanket confidentiality rules covering workplace investigations, and overbroad social media policies have all drawn scrutiny. Public employers in Texas sit outside the NLRA and under separate state rules instead.
Texas regulates employment lightly compared with most states, which produces a specific hazard: employers assume the short list means no list, and miss the handful of state obligations that do exist.
Governs pay frequency, final pay timing — six calendar days after discharge, next regular payday after resignation — and deductions, most of which require written authorization from the employee. Employees file wage claims with the TWC, generally within 180 days of the date wages were due. Critically, the Payday Law enforces your own written policy, which means a carelessly drafted PTO or commission provision becomes a binding obligation you did not intend to make.
Chapter 21 mirrors federal discrimination law for employers with 15 or more employees. But the sexual harassment provisions added in 2021 are broader than most Texas employers realize: they reach employers with as few as one employee, extend potential liability to individuals who act directly in the employer's interest, require immediate and appropriate corrective action, and provide a longer filing window for those claims specifically. A five-person Texas business that believes it is too small for harassment law is wrong, and that misunderstanding is common.
Employment is presumed terminable by either party at any time for any lawful reason. At-will is a default rule, not immunity: it does not authorize a termination that is discriminatory, retaliatory, or in response to protected activity such as filing a workers' compensation claim or serving on a jury. Employers also erode the presumption themselves, through handbook language promising progressive discipline or supervisors making assurances about job security.
Texas is the only state that lets most private employers decline workers' compensation coverage entirely. Non-subscribers must file annually with the Division of Workers' Compensation, post notice, and notify new hires in writing — and they give up the exclusive remedy protection that coverage provides, meaning an injured employee can sue directly and common-law defenses are restricted. Political subdivisions do not have the option and must extend coverage.
Texas enforces covenants not to compete that are ancillary to an otherwise enforceable agreement and reasonable as to time, geographic area, and scope of activity. Courts will reform an overbroad covenant rather than void it outright, which employers sometimes read as license to overreach — a mistake, since reformation limits the remedy available. Health care practitioner covenants entered or renewed on or after September 1, 2025 face additional statutory limits, as described in the changelog.
Effective September 2023, Texas prohibits discrimination based on hair texture and protective hairstyles associated with race, including braids, locs, and twists. It reaches employment as well as schools. Grooming and appearance policies written before 2023 frequently contain neutral-sounding language — requirements about "professional" or "neat" hair — that now needs review.
Texas has no general paid leave mandate, but it does have targeted protections. Employers may not terminate a permanent employee for jury service. Employees must be given time off to vote unless they have two consecutive non-working hours while the polls are open. Volunteer firefighters and emergency medical responders are protected from termination for responding to an emergency call. Texas National Guard members have specific state protections layered on top of USERRA. Each is narrow, and each generates litigation precisely because it is narrow enough to be forgotten.
A genuinely Texas-specific provision that surprises employers relocating from other states: an employer generally may not prohibit an employee who lawfully possesses a firearm from storing it in a locked, privately owned vehicle in a company parking area, subject to statutory exceptions. Blanket "no weapons on company property" handbook language often conflicts with this and should be reviewed rather than copied from a national template.
Texas restricts employment of workers under 14 with limited exceptions and constrains hours for 14- and 15-year-olds, layered with federal child labor rules; where both apply, the stricter governs. Separately, every new hire is reported to the state directory within 20 calendar days — a mechanical obligation that is almost always automated through payroll and almost always overlooked when a hire is processed manually.
Cities, counties, districts, and other political subdivisions carry a distinct layer: the Texas Whistleblower Act protecting public employees who report legal violations to an appropriate law enforcement authority, the Public Information Act's reach into personnel records, Open Meetings Act constraints on discussing individual employees, and mandatory workers' compensation coverage. Public sector HR problems are rarely about the personnel decision alone; they are about the personnel decision occurring in public.
Half the compliance questions we field are about obligations that do not exist in Texas. Knowing what you do not owe is worth as much as knowing what you do — with one important caveat that runs through every row below.
| Commonly assumed | Actual Texas position | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Meal and rest breaks | Not required for adult employees by Texas or federal law. | If you offer short breaks, generally under 20 minutes, they must be paid. An unpaid meal break must be genuinely free of duties — eating at a desk while covering phones is compensable time. |
| Paying out unused PTO | Not required unless your policy or an agreement says so. | The Payday Law enforces your written policy as written, and ambiguity is generally construed against the drafter. Vague handbook language creates the obligation you were trying to avoid. |
| Paid sick leave | No Texas state mandate, and the municipal ordinances passed in Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas were each blocked by Texas courts. | FMLA, ADA, and the PWFA still require job-protected or accommodated time off in specific circumstances, regardless of whether it is paid. |
| Severance pay | Not required by Texas law. | If a policy, contract, or consistent past practice promises it, it becomes enforceable. And a severance agreement releasing age claims must meet specific federal requirements to be valid. |
| A state minimum wage above federal | Texas adopts the federal $7.25 rate and does not exceed it. | Tipped wage rules, youth rates, and overtime still apply, and misapplying the tip credit is a common source of back-wage liability. |
| Salary ranges in job postings | Texas has no pay transparency law requiring salary ranges in postings or on request. | If you recruit into states that do require it, or post on platforms that apply those rules broadly, you may be reached anyway. And the Equal Pay Act still governs the outcome. |
| Written warnings before termination | No Texas law requires progressive discipline. | If your handbook promises it and you skip it, you have handed a plaintiff the inconsistency argument — and undercut the at-will presumption you were relying on. |
| A reason for termination | At-will means no reason is legally required. | You will still have to explain the decision to the TWC, to the EEOC, or to a jury. "No reason required" and "no reason documented" are very different positions to be in. |
| State family or medical leave | Texas has no state family leave statute. | The federal FMLA applies at 50 employees, and ADA accommodation can require leave as an accommodation even where the FMLA does not reach. |
| Employee data privacy compliance | The Texas Data Privacy and Security Act generally excludes data processed in an employment context, so it is not an HR compliance program for most employers. | Medical information still requires ADA-compliant separate confidential handling, and I-9 and payroll records carry their own retention and confidentiality rules. |
Scroll sideways on smaller screens.
Nothing here requires action today. Each is worth knowing about so a change does not arrive as a surprise.
TRAIGA is now in effect, but the enforcement posture is untested and agency guidance on how the intent standard will be applied is still developing. Meanwhile, algorithmic screening remains subject to ordinary disparate impact analysis under Title VII and Chapter 21, which does not require intent at all. Employers relying on vendor assurances rather than their own validation are carrying a risk they have not priced.
The federal test for employee versus contractor status has shifted with successive administrations and continues to be litigated, while the IRS and the TWC apply their own related but distinct analyses. An arrangement can be defensible under one and vulnerable under another. Because misclassification exposure accrues silently across years of payments, this is worth reviewing on a schedule rather than when a determination arrives.
Texas has no pay transparency requirement and no enacted law on the horizon. But Texas employers recruiting remotely into states that do require posted ranges are increasingly finding those rules reach their postings anyway, and national job platforms have moved toward broad application. Multi-state hiring is where this becomes your problem.
Enforcement emphasis at the EEOC, the DOL Wage and Hour Division, and the NLRB shifts with administrations, and positions taken in guidance can be withdrawn without any change in the underlying statute. The practical lesson from the overtime threshold saga is worth generalizing: do not restructure your workforce around an announced rule until the litigation over it has ended. Employers who raised salaries in advance of the 2024 rule could not easily undo it when the rule was vacated.
Employers waste real money reacting to headlines about laws that never applied to them, and miss changes that did. Five questions separate the two.
Check the threshold first, and check it against your real count including part-time and seasonal staff, measured the way the specific statute measures. Most coverage is a headcount question, and most headlines omit the headcount.
Distinguish enacted, effective, enjoined, and vacated. A rule that was announced, challenged, and blocked changes nothing about your obligations — but it will still be described in trade press as though it did.
A new reporting format is an afternoon with your payroll provider. A new substantive obligation — an accommodation duty, a notice requirement, a coverage expansion — means policy language, supervisor training, and documentation practice all have to move. Sort into those two buckets before deciding what it costs you.
If the answer is nobody, you are done after updating the handbook. If the answer is supervisors, you have real work, because supervisor behavior is the hardest thing to change and the thing every claim eventually turns on. A policy nobody was trained on is a document, not a control.
Answer this before you implement anything, not after. If you cannot name the artifact — the signed acknowledgment, the dated notice, the training roster, the documented review — then whatever you are about to do will not be provable a year from now, and unprovable compliance defends nothing.
Mostly federal law, layered with a comparatively small set of Texas statutes. From the first employee: the FLSA, the Equal Pay Act, I-9 verification, USERRA, the PUMP Act, the OSHA general duty clause, the NLRA for private employers, the Texas Payday Law, new hire reporting, the EITC notice, and Texas sexual harassment liability. More attaches at 11, 15, 20, 50, and 100 employees — the threshold table above lays out the full sequence.
One. The belief that small employers are exempt is the most expensive misconception in Texas small business HR. Wage and hour law, I-9 verification, the Payday Law, and Texas sexual harassment liability all apply from the first hire. Growth adds statutes; it does not switch them on from zero.
Yes — Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code, enforced by the TWC Civil Rights Division, largely mirroring federal law at 15 or more employees. Two Texas-specific points matter: sexual harassment provisions reach employers with as few as one employee and can extend to individuals acting in the employer's interest, and the state filing deadline is 180 days, shorter than the 300-day federal window available in Texas.
Yes, and it is a default rather than a shield. At-will does not permit a termination that is discriminatory or retaliatory, that punishes protected leave or a workers' compensation claim, or that penalizes jury service. Employers also weaken the presumption themselves through handbook promises and supervisor assurances about job security.
No — neither Texas nor federal law requires meal or rest breaks for adults. Federal law does require that short breaks under about 20 minutes be paid if offered, and that an unpaid meal break be genuinely free of duties. The PUMP Act separately requires break time and a private space for nursing employees. See the full answer on lunch breaks.
Only if your written policy or an agreement says so. Texas imposes no independent payout requirement. The trap is that the Payday Law enforces your policy as written, so ambiguous handbook language creates an obligation you never meant to take on, and ambiguity is generally read against the employer who drafted it. The PTO payout policy checker will tell you how yours reads.
The Texas Responsible AI Governance Act, effective January 1, 2026, applies to entities developing or deploying AI systems in Texas. For employers the core prohibition is deploying AI with intent to unlawfully discriminate, with notice obligations and Attorney General enforcement subject to notice and cure. If any tool screens applicants, ranks candidates, monitors productivity, or scores employees, it is in scope — including features your existing HR software added without your asking. See the TRAIGA overview.
Five things. TRAIGA took effect January 1, 2026. SB 835 voided nondisclosure provisions that prevent disclosure of sexual abuse or assault, effective September 1, 2025 and reaching agreements signed earlier. SB 1318 tightened health care practitioner non-competes. HB 3699 changed how the last employer is determined for unemployment claims filed on or after January 1, 2026. And the federal overtime salary threshold question resolved, with the 2024 rule vacated and $684 per week restored by rule in 2026. Details for each are in the changelog above.
We map which of these obligations actually apply to your organization, find where practice has drifted from the rule, and build the documentation that makes your decisions defensible.
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