CHAPTER 62. MINIMUM WAGE
LABOR CODE
TITLE 2. PROTECTION OF LABORERS
SUBTITLE C. WAGES
CHAPTER 62. MINIMUM WAGE
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 62.001. SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the
Texas Minimum Wage Act.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter, unless the context
requires a different definition:
(1) Repealed by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 506, Sec.
5.35(10), eff. September 1, 2009.
(2) "Agriculture" includes:
(A) farming in all its branches;
(B) cultivating and tilling the soil;
(C) dairying;
(D) producing, cultivating, growing, and harvesting an
agricultural or horticultural commodity, including a commodity
defined as an agricultural commodity by Section 15(g),
Agricultural Marketing Act (12 U.S.C. Section 1141j(g));
(E) raising livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry;
and
(F) any practice performed by a farmer or on a farm as an
incident to or in conjunction with farming operations, including:
(i) forestry or lumber operations;
(ii) preparation for market; and
(iii) delivery to storage, market, or a carrier for
transportation to market.
(3) "Commission" means the Texas Employment Commission.
(4) "Employ" includes to permit to work.
(5) "Employee" includes any individual employed by an employer.
(6) "Employer" includes a person acting directly or indirectly
in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee.
(7) "Person" means an individual, partnership, association,
corporation, business trust, legal representative, or any
organized group of persons.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Amended by:
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch.
506, Sec. 5.35(10), eff. September 1, 2009.
Sec. 62.003. EARNINGS STATEMENT. (a) At the end of each pay
period, an employer shall give each employee a written earnings
statement covering the pay period.
(b) An earnings statement must be signed by the employer or the
employer's agent and must show:
(1) the name of the employee;
(2) the rate of pay;
(3) the total amount of pay earned by the employee during the
pay period;
(4) any deduction made from the employee's pay and the purpose
of the deduction;
(5) the amount of pay after all deductions are made; and
(6) the total number of:
(A) hours worked by the employee if the employee's pay is
computed by the hour; or
(B) units produced by the employee during the pay period if the
employee's pay is computed on a piece rate
(c) An earnings statement may be in any form determined by the
employer. The information required by Subsection (b) may be
stated on a check voucher or bank draft given to an employee for
the employee's wages.
(d) In this section, "pay period" means the period that an
employee works for which salary or wages are regularly paid under
the employee's employment agreement.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 461, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2003.
Sec. 62.004. PROVISION OF INFORMATION. The commission shall
provide information to the public about this chapter to ensure
that both employers and employees in this state are fully aware
of:
(1) their respective rights and responsibilities;
(2) the specified exemptions; and
(3) the penalties and liabilities that may be incurred for a
violation of this chapter.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.005. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING NOT IMPAIRED. This chapter
does not interfere with or in any way diminish the right of
employees to bargain collectively with their employer through
representatives chosen by the employees to establish wages that
exceed the applicable minimum wage under this chapter.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
SUBCHAPTER B. MINIMUM WAGE
Sec. 62.051. MINIMUM WAGE. Except as provided by Section
62.057, an employer shall pay to each employee the federal
minimum wage under Section 6, Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
(29 U.S.C. Section 206).
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 386, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 461, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
Sec. 62.0515. APPLICATION OF MINIMUM WAGE TO CERTAIN
GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES; CERTAIN AGREEMENTS WITH GOVERNMENTAL
ENTITIES. (a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, the
minimum wage provided by this chapter supersedes a wage
established in an ordinance, order, or charter provision
governing wages in private employment, other than wages under a
public contract.
(b) This section does not apply to any state or federal job
training or workforce development program.
(c) This section does not apply to a minimum wage established by
a governmental entity that applies to a contract or agreement,
including a non-annexation agreement, entered into by a
governmental entity and a private entity. A private entity that
enters into a contract or agreement, including a non-annexation
agreement, with a governmental entity, under the terms of which
the private entity agrees to comply with a minimum wage
established by the governmental entity, is subject to the terms
of that contract or agreement, and those terms apply to and may
be enforced against a general contractor, subcontractor,
developer, and other person with which the private entity
contracts in order to comply with the provisions of the original
contract or agreement.
(d) For purposes of this section, "governmental entity" includes
a municipality, a county, a special district or authority, a
junior college district, or another political subdivision of this
state.
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 461, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1,
2003.
Sec. 62.052. TIPPED EMPLOYEES. (a) In determining the wage of
a tipped employee, the amount paid the employee by the employer
is the amount described as paid to a tipped employee under
Section 3(m), Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section
203(m)).
(b) In this section, "tipped employee" means an employee engaged
in an occupation in which the employee customarily and regularly
receives more than $20 a month in tips.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 386, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Sec. 62.053. COST OF MEALS OR LODGING. In computing the wage
paid to an employee, an employer may include the reasonable cost
to the employer of furnishing meals, lodging, or both to the
employee if:
(1) meals or lodging customarily are furnished by the employer
to employees; and
(2) the cost of the meals and lodging are separately stated and
identified in the earnings statement furnished to the employee
under Section 62.003.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.054. CERTAIN EMPLOYEES SUBJECT TO CALL. An employer may
not be required to pay an employee who lives on the premises of a
business and who is assigned certain working hours plus
additional hours when the employee is subject to call for more
than the number of hours the employee actually works or is on
duty because of assigned working hours.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.057. PATIENTS AND CLIENTS OF TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL
HEALTH AND MENTAL RETARDATION. (a) A person may be compensated
for services rendered to the Texas Department of Mental Health
and Mental Retardation or a department facility at a percentage
of the base wage adopted under this section if:
(1) the person is a patient or client of a department facility;
(2) the person's productive capacity is impaired;
(3) the person:
(A) assists in the operation of the facility as part of the
person's therapy; or
(B) receives occupational training in a sheltered workshop or
other program operated by the department; and
(4) the facility or department derives an economic benefit from
the person's services.
(b) The percentage of the base wage paid to a person under
Subsection (a) must correspond to the percentage of the person's
productive capacity compared with the capacity of an employee who
performs the same or similar tasks and who is not similarly
impaired.
(c) The department shall adopt rules to determine the base wage
and the percentage of productive capacity of the patients and
clients and other rules necessary to implement this section.
(d) Services rendered and payment provided under this section
may not be construed as creating an employer-employee
relationship between the department and the patient or client
engaged in occupational training or therapeutic or rehabilitative
services.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
SUBCHAPTER D. EXEMPTIONS
Sec. 62.151. PERSON COVERED BY FEDERAL ACT. This chapter and a
municipal ordinance or charter provision governing wages in
private employment, other than wages under a public contract, do
not apply to a person covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act of
1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 201 et seq.).
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 461, Sec. 4, eff. Sept. 1,
2003.
Sec. 62.152. EMPLOYMENT BY RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL, CHARITABLE,
OR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION. An employer is exempt from this
chapter with respect to the employment of a person who is:
(1) a member of a religious order while the person is performing
a service for or at the direction of the order;
(2) a duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed minister, priest,
rabbi, sexton, or Christian Science reader while the person is
performing services in that capacity for a church, synagogue, or
religious organization;
(3) engaged in the activities of a religious, educational,
charitable, or nonprofit organization in which:
(A) the employer-employee relationship does not in fact exist;
or
(B) the services are rendered to the organization gratuitously;
(4) employed by the Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of
America, or a local organization affiliated with those
organizations;
(5) employed by a camp of a religious, educational, charitable,
or nonprofit organization; or
(6) employed with the person's spouse by a nonprofit educational
institution to serve as the parents of a child:
(A) who is an orphan;
(B) one of whose natural parents is deceased; or
(C) who is enrolled in and resides in residential facilities of
the institution, if the employee and the employee's spouse:
(i) reside in residential facilities of the institution; and
(ii) receive, without cost, board and lodging from the
institution.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.153. EMPLOYMENT OF CERTAIN PROFESSIONALS, SALESPERSONS,
AND PUBLIC OFFICIALS. An employer is exempt from this chapter
with respect to the employment of a person:
(1) employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or
professional capacity;
(2) employed as an outside salesperson or collector and paid a
commission; or
(3) who performs services for a political subdivision as an
elected official or as a member of a legislative body.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.154. DOMESTIC EMPLOYMENT. An employer is exempt from
this chapter with respect to the employment of a person who:
(1) performs domestic services in or about a private home,
including a person who performs the duties of baby-sitting in or
out of the employer's home; or
(2) lives in or about a private home and furnishes personal care
for a resident of the home.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.155. EMPLOYMENT OF CERTAIN YOUTHS AND STUDENTS. An
employer is exempt from this chapter with respect to the
employment of a person who:
(1) is less than 18 years of age and is not a high school
graduate or a graduate of a vocational training program, other
than a person who is employed in agriculture and whose pay is
computed on a piece rate;
(2) is less than 20 years of age and is a student regularly
enrolled in a high school, college, university, or vocational
training program, other than a person who is employed in
agriculture and whose pay is computed on a piece rate; or
(3) has a disability and who is:
(A) not more than 21 years of age;
(B) a client of vocational rehabilitation; and
(C) participating in a cooperative school-work program.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.156. EMPLOYMENT OF INMATES. An employer is exempt from
this chapter with respect to the employment of a person who
performs services while imprisoned in the institutional division
of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or while confined in
a local jail.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.157. EMPLOYMENT OF CERTAIN FAMILY MEMBERS. An employer
is exempt from this chapter with respect to employment of the
employer's brother, sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, child,
spouse, parent, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, ward, or person in
loco parentis to the employee.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.158. CERTAIN AMUSEMENT AND RECREATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS.
An employer is exempt from this chapter with respect to
employment in an amusement or recreational establishment that:
(1) does not operate for more than seven months in a calendar
year; or
(2) had average receipts for any six months of the preceding
calendar year of not more than 33-1/3 percent of its average
receipts for the other six months of the year.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.159. CERTAIN EMPLOYERS NOT CONTRIBUTING TO UNEMPLOYMENT
COMPENSATION FUND; CERTIFICATE. (a) An employer that is not
liable for payment of contributions to the unemployment
compensation fund under Subtitle A, Title 4, is exempt from this
chapter, except with respect to employment of a person in
agriculture.
(b) The commission shall furnish a certificate stating whether a
specified employer is liable for the payment of contributions to
the unemployment compensation fund under Subtitle A, Title 4, to
a person making a written request for a certificate. The
commission may require payment of a fee not to exceed $5 for the
issuance of the certificate.
(c) A certificate issued under this section is admissible in
evidence in an action brought by an employee under Subchapter E.
In the absence of evidence to the contrary:
(1) it is presumed that the facts stated in the certificate are
true; and
(2) the certificate is conclusive as to whether the named
employer is exempt from this chapter under this section.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 9.16, eff. Sept. 1,
1995.
Sec. 62.160. AGRICULTURAL EXEMPTIONS. (a) An employer is
exempt from this chapter with respect to employment of a person
in dairy farming.
(b) Sections 62.051-62.054 do not apply to an agricultural
employer with respect to an employee engaged in the production of
livestock.
(c) In this section, "production of livestock" includes:
(1) any livestock operation, without regard to size or type of
location, in which the land produces forage or feedstuffs,
including naturally or artificially revegetated forage or
feedstuffs;
(2) breeding, feeding, watering, containing, maintaining, and
caring for livestock;
(3) production of livestock in feedlots; and
(4) all other activities necessary or useful to the raising of
livestock.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Amended by:
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch.
506, Sec. 5.34, eff. September 1, 2009.
Sec. 62.161. SHELTERED WORKSHOPS. A nonprofit charitable
organization that is engaged in evaluating, training, and
employment services for clients with disabilities and that
complies with federal regulations covering those activities is
considered to have complied with this chapter.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
SUBCHAPTER E. CIVIL PENALTY
Sec. 62.201. CIVIL PENALTY. An employer who violates Section
62.051, 62.052, 62.053, or 62.054 or Subchapter C is liable to an
affected employee in the amount of the unpaid wages plus an
additional equal amount as liquidated damages.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 461, Sec. 5, eff. Sept. 1,
2003.
Sec. 62.202. LIMITATIONS. An action to recover a liability
imposed by this subchapter must be brought not later than the
second anniversary of the date on which the unpaid wages are due
and payable.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.203. PLAINTIFFS. (a) An action to recover a liability
under this subchapter may be brought by an employee for that
employee and other similarly affected employees.
(b) An employee may not be a plaintiff to an action brought
under this subchapter unless:
(1) the employee consents in writing; and
(2) the consent is filed in the court in which the action is
brought.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.204. REQUIRED FINDINGS. At the trial of an action
brought under this subchapter, the plaintiff recovers if the jury
or the court finds from a preponderance of the evidence that:
(1) the plaintiff is or has been employed by the defendant at
any time during the two years preceding the institution of the
action;
(2) the original petition filed by or on behalf of the plaintiff
is verified; and
(3) the defendant failed to pay the plaintiff the minimum wage
under this chapter.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.
Sec. 62.205. ATTORNEY'S FEES; COSTS. In addition to a judgment
awarded to the plaintiff, the court shall allow reasonable
attorney's fees and costs of the action to be paid by the
defendant.
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.