29 Nov Texas Overtime Law
Regardless of how much you love your job, being paid for your efforts and earning bread and butter for your family are likely the reasons why you show up for work every day. However, if you are doing overtime and your employer is not abiding by overtime laws in Texas, you might be losing money. Therefore, you need to know all the aspects of Texas overtime law so you can know if your employer is adhering to the wage distribution law or not.
If you are a permanent employer, keep moving forward and know more about overtime rates in Texas, overtime rules, overtime pay in Texas, etc.
What is Overtime Pay Texas?
Any professional work performed beyond the standard 40-hour per week is known as overtime. Most of the employees in Texas are entitled to overtime compensation for performing extra work. All employers must abide by state and federal laws concerning Overtime.
In the state of Texas, the employer has to pay one and a half times more than a regular employer’s pay rate for overtime. If you work in Texas, you need to get familiar with double-time Texas law. As put forward by the Fair Labor Standard Act, an employee must get his overtime salary for any work done beyond the 40-hour limit in 7 consecutive workdays.
What is the minimum overtime wage in Texas?
Overtime pay is also referred to as, ‘time and a half pay’ in Texas. But why? Because it is one and a half time more than the normal hourly wage of an employee. Therefore, the minimum overtime rate in Texas is $10.88 per hour. While the regular yet minimum hourly wage in Texas is $7.25. Multiply your hourly wage with 1.5 and you will get the value of the hourly overtime rate in Texas that your employer owes to you.
The Fair Labor Standard Act has set some special rules for working medical nurses. All the hospitals in Texas can’t force a medical nurse to do mandatory overtime hours. However, they can do it if they choose to do overtime. In addition to that, there are no limits to overtime done by any type of employee.
What are overtime laws in Texas?
Texas overtime laws are federally and nationally designed to prevent employees from being exploited by their employers. Most of the hourly wage earners who work in blue-collar industries have to face overtime law violations by their employers.
But, because of the work hours required by certain industries and the work environment nature, there is a wide array of Texas overtime exemptions. The eligibility criterion is different for everybody. Out of 120 million working Americans, more than 50 million Americans are exempt from overtime laws.
Administrators, executives, and other professionals earning under $455 per week are exempt from Overtime laws in Texas. Under Section 13 a:1, of the Labor Act, employers do not have to pay these individuals for overtime.
External salesmen, who often set their hours (their jobs are flexible) are also exempted from the Overtime requirement. There is a wide category that falls under the name tag, ‘external salesmen’. Even the people that perform computer-related work are included in the category. In addition to that, freelance contractors, who do not have to show up every day or are not considered legal employees are also exempt from overtime law.
Other professions exempt from overtime pay in Texas are certain agricultural farmers, transportation workers, and live-in employees. It means that the housekeeping staff of any company is exempt from overtime law as well.
Provision of Texas Overtime Law
The below information highlights the key provisions of Texas overtime law:
State and federal statutes
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA, overtime provision)
- Texas Labor Code 61 and 61.001 (4) (Payday law of Texas)
Note that state and federal laws are subject to change every year. Therefore, it is important to verify all the information you have so far, gained by cross-checking or having a quick consultation session with a qualified Texas employment lawyer.
Texas workers exempt from FLSA
Supervisory employees that handle the management processes as their primary duties
- Outside sales
- Truck and big vehicle drivers
- Railroad workers
- Salary level test (An employee’s wage is federally determined)
What are Texas Overtime Exemptions?
If your profession fits into the below-mentioned categories, you are not protected by state and federal-level overtime regulations. Let’s see what these categories are:
Executive Overtime Exemptions
If you are an executive and your full-time duty is to manage a group of employees, you are exempted from Overtime law regulations. You must spend 40% of your job time in a retail environment and 20% of your time doing other job activities. Only then will your post be considered a salaried position.
Administrative overtime exemptions
Your job involves administration if you perform non-manual work and your primary duty is to handle management politics, business operations, or taking administrative training sessions. To fulfill the requirements or to be protected by Texas Overtime law, your position should be salaried and you must spend 40% of your time in the retail work environment and 20% of your job time doing other activities at work.
Professional overtime Exemptions
Your job is considered professional if you require extensive and advanced knowledge. All the certified teachers, artists, and skilled computer and software professionals are included in this category. To fulfill the overtime pay Texas requirements, your job should be salaried and the work you perform must include intellectual activities. Other than that, you should be expected to use judgment and discretion by the state of Texas.
In order to be classified as a professional, you must not spend more than 20% of your duty time doing activities not relevant to your job position.
Outside Sales Overtime Exemptions
You work as a salesperson if your primary duties are to take orders outside the workplace and to make sales. For the sales you make, you might be relying on a commission-based structure or monthly salary. However, you must not spend more than 20% of your time doing other activities than making sales. Otherwise, you won’t fall under the classification of a salesperson.
If your job fulfills all the eligibility for overtime protection under Federal and Texas overtime laws, your employer is obliged by law to pay you overtime salary for all the hours worked beyond the 40-hour weekly limit. If the employer owes you overtime salary and is not paying the right amount, the Department of Labor Office, Texas will assist you to ensure you receive fair wages for all the overtime hours you have worked so far.
In the year 2008, more than 200,000 American employees received a total amount of $140,200,000 for working overtime. They also got minimum back-wages from their employers after filing an overtime violation claim against their employers.
How can you calculate your overtime pay? – Texas overtime calculator
Under the Texas Payday Law and FLSA, it is the responsibility of an employer to calculate the overtime hours after 7 consecutive days of work. It is not necessary to start the calculation from Monday or Sunday. The calculation period can start on any week of the day and has to end after 7 working days.
Texas overtime law says that a Texas employee who works for 40 hours per week is entitled to compensation payments for the extra hours. There are two ways in which the employer can compensate the employee:
- By giving the overtime salary at the rate of 1.5 times more than his normal hourly wage
- By allowing the employee to take off as a compensation
Texas overtime calculation Methods
Texas overtime rules comply with all the standards set by FLSA. Overtime compensation is paid hourly, on a salary-based structure or commission-based plan. Let’s see the most authentic way to calculate your overtime pay.
Multiply the total hours with the hourly rate. Add the overtime workweek equivalent that you will receive in the form of a commission or hourly bonus. After that, divide the number by the total number of hours you have worked in the week. Then, multiply 1.5 with the regular rate for every overtime hour.
If you are on a salaried position, divide your monthly salary by the number of hours that you are required to complete within a month. If the regular working hours are less than 40, add the regular rate you get paid for each hour. Pay 1.5 times more than the regular rate for the hours over 40.
How does Overtime work in Texas?
The supreme court has given clear instruction to employers. The employees subject to overtime laws must be paid for the mental and physical exertion required by the employer for the benefit of the company or the business.
The worked-hours include all the time that an employee has spent to perform work for an employer, regardless of the place of work. It can be any premises, including the employee’s home. It is the sheer duty of the management and administration staff to exercise control and implement overtime laws. Other than that, an employer must stop the employees from doing overtime if there’s no need for it.
Employers often assign a week’s work that takes more than 40 hours. Therefore, the employees often work overtime or stay late to submit the task before the deadline. If the employer is aware of Texas overtime law, you are entitled to compensation or overtime pay. If the employee is correcting the mistakes in his or her work, it is considered double time in Texas. Therefore, it will include in the worked hours. The overtime rate in Texas depends on the number of hours you are serving the business, regardless of an employee waiting for the task to be assigned.
Common Overtime Violations in Texas
Employers often ignore the complexity of overtime laws, Texas. Most employers often use plots and tricks to deny an employee’s overtime pay. Employees who know Texas overtime laws move swiftly to protect their rights. Here are some of the tactics that employer use to avoid paying overtime pay:
Reclassification
If your employer reclassified you to a job position but your work never changed, you might be a victim of the reclassification tactic. If you have worked overtime and your job post has been changed, you can submit an overtime violation claim.
Salaried Employee
Many employers tell their employees from the start regarding the overtime pay laws. Most of them fail to recognize the laws and do not abide by the regulations, just because their employees are on a salaried position. Just because you receive a salary, does not mean you are not entitled to compensation or overtime pay.
Under FLSA, all the employees in Texas must receive the rightful overtime pay unless they get paid $455 per week. If your employer can’t prove the self-made exemption regulation, you should file a violation claim right away.
The Independent Contractor
Some employers often label their permanent workers as temporary workers or contract-based workers. Whatsoever the term, most employers use it to avoid giving overtime pay. Under the Texas and federal laws, only employees can receive overtime pay. However, many of the employees are permanent, they still do not get their overtime pay.
If your employer tells you how to work, when to work, and what project to work on, there’s a 100% chance that you are a victim of this wrongful tactic. Your employer is violating the Texas overtime laws by not considering you a permanent employee.
Regular pay rate for overtime
Overtime law in Texas states that employees should be paid 1.5 times more than their regular pay rate if they do overtime hours. If your employer is not complying with this law, you have the right to file a violation claim and the department of labor office will assist you in getting the rightful amount for hours, worked.
Conclusion
Overtime laws in Texas are complex to understand but are protected under the FLSA and Texas Payday Act. In some cases, there’s a genuine mistake from the employer’s side but if your employee is cheating you and not complying with the Texas overtime laws, it is your right to file an overtime violation claim.
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