HR guides for Texas employers

What makes Texas different

Texas is one of the most employer-friendly states in the country, and most of its rules are the federal floor. The exceptions are unusual enough to matter.

• Workers' compensation is optional. Texas is the only state that lets private employers decline coverage entirely and become a non-subscriber. The trade is severe: a non-subscriber loses the common-law defences that make the workers'-comp bargain worth taking, and can be sued directly for negligence.
• At-will is close to absolute. The principal judicial exception, Sabine Pilot, bars discharge only where the sole reason was the employee's refusal to commit a criminal act. Statutory anti-retaliation still applies — workers' comp filings under Tex. Labor Code §451.001, jury service, wage claims.
• Sexual harassment reaches every employer. The Texas Commission on Human Rights Act covers general discrimination at 15+ employees, but the sexual-harassment provisions apply from a single employee.
• The Payday Law clock is short. A wage claim must reach the TWC within 180 days of the date wages were due (Tex. Labor Code §61.051) — far tighter than the multi-year windows in several other states we cover.

Texas has no state minimum wage above the federal figure, no statewide ban-the-box law, and no state mini-WARN Act — federal WARN at 100+ employees is the entire layoff-notice analysis.