Texas: Final Paycheck Deadlines

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Texas's final-pay rules live in the Payment of Wages chapter of the Labor
Code, Chapter 61. The deadlines are in § 61.014; the definition of "wages"
(including when vacation/holiday/sick/severance pay counts) is in
§ 61.001(7); permitted deductions are in § 61.018; and the wage-claim
process is in § 61.051 and the sections following it.

Deadline if fired or laid off

"An employer shall pay in full an employee who is discharged from
employment not later than the sixth day after the date the employee is
discharged" (§ 61.014(a)). Unlike states that require same-day payment,
Texas gives the employer a short runway — six calendar days, not six
business days — regardless of the employer's normal pay schedule.

Deadline if the employee quits

"An employer shall pay in full an employee who leaves employment other
than by discharge not later than the next regularly scheduled payday"
(§ 61.014(b)). This applies no matter how much advance notice the employee
gave — Texas doesn't accelerate the deadline for a two-week-notice quit
the way some states do.

Unused vacation/PTO payout required?

Texas's wage-payment chapter doesn't independently require any vacation
payout. It only reaches vacation pay (along with holiday, sick, parental
leave, and severance pay) at all if it's "owed to an employee under a
written agreement with the employer or under a written policy of the
employer" (§ 61.001(7)). If there's no such written promise, nothing is
owed under this chapter; if there is one, the promised amount becomes
"wages" subject to the same payment deadlines and enforcement as an
ordinary paycheck.

How final pay must be delivered

Employers may deliver final wages at the regular workplace during regular
hours, at another agreed time and place, by registered mail timed to
arrive by payday, to someone the employee designates in writing, or by any
other reasonable means the employee authorizes in writing (§ 61.017).
Beyond that, an employer generally can't withhold or divert any part of an
employee's wages unless a court orders it, another law authorizes it, or
the employee has given written authorization for a lawful deduction
(§ 61.018).

Penalty for a late or unpaid final check

Texas has no automatic waiting-time penalty comparable to California's.
Instead, if a Texas Workforce Commission examiner, appeal tribunal, or the
Commission itself finds the employer acted in bad faith in not paying
wages, it may assess an administrative penalty on top of ordering the
wages paid — capped at the lesser of the wages in question or $1,000
(§ 61.053). Separately, an employer who intends to avoid paying wages
owed and fails to pay after a demand commits a third-degree felony
(§ 61.019) — a criminal, not civil, consequence, and one that requires
proving intent to avoid payment, not just lateness.

How to enforce it

An employee starts by filing a wage claim with the Texas Workforce
Commission "not later than the 180th day after the date the wages claimed
became due for payment" — a jurisdictional deadline, not a flexible one
(§ 61.051(c)). A commission examiner investigates and issues a
preliminary wage determination order; either side can request a hearing
before a wage claim appeal tribunal, and an unfavorable final order can be
enforced through an administrative lien on the employer's property or, if
needed, a lawsuit in a Travis County district court.

Exceptions and special rules

This chapter doesn't cover the United States, the State of Texas, or a
political subdivision as an employer (§ 61.003). A franchisor isn't
treated as the "employer" of a franchisee or the franchisee's own
employees for a wage claim under this chapter, absent a court finding of
unusual control over the franchisee (§ 61.0031). Commissions and bonuses
are due on whatever schedule the employee's own agreement (or an
applicable collective bargaining agreement) sets, rather than a fixed
statutory date — but once due, they must be paid as promptly as any other
wage under this chapter (§ 61.015).

What trips people up

Employers sometimes assume "the next payroll run" covers a discharge, the
way it does for a voluntary quit — it doesn't; the six-calendar-day clock
on a discharge runs independent of the normal pay schedule and can expire
before the next scheduled payroll. On the flip side, employees sometimes
assume that giving two weeks' notice speeds up their final check the way
it does in some other states; in Texas it doesn't — quitting with notice
still means waiting for the next regular payday. And because there's no
independent state vacation-payout law, whether a departing employee is
owed anything for unused PTO turns entirely on the fine print of the
employer's own handbook or offer letter, not on a statutory floor.

Common questions

My employer says they'll mail my last check — is that allowed?
Yes. Registered mail is one of the delivery methods the statute
authorizes, but it has to be timed to reach the employee by the payday
deadline that applies (§ 61.017(b)(3)).

Can my employer dock my final paycheck for a cash-register shortage or
unreturned equipment?
Only with your written authorization for that specific deduction, a court
order, or another law authorizing it — a unilateral deduction without one
of those isn't allowed (§ 61.018).

What if the Texas Workforce Commission denies my wage claim?
A party who has exhausted the administrative process can appeal further,
ultimately through a district court suit, but the wage claim itself must
have been filed within the 180-day window in the first place, or it's
dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Lab. Code § 61.014: "PAYMENT AFTER TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT. (a) An
  employer shall pay in full an employee who is discharged from employment
  not later than the sixth day after the date the employee is discharged.
  (b) An employer shall pay in full an employee who leaves employment
  other than by discharge not later than the next regularly scheduled
  payday." —
  http://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Tex. Lab. Code § 61.001(7): "'Wages' means compensation owed by an
  employer for: (A) labor or services rendered by an employee, whether
  computed on a time, task, piece, commission, or other basis; and (B)
  vacation pay, holiday pay, sick leave pay, parental leave pay, or
  severance pay owed to an employee under a written agreement with the
  employer or under a written policy of the employer." —
  http://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Tex. Lab. Code § 61.017(b): delivery methods for final wages — see quote
  above. —
  http://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Tex. Lab. Code § 61.018: permitted deductions — see quote above. —
  http://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Tex. Lab. Code § 61.019: criminal penalty for intentional nonpayment —
  see quote above. —
  http://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Tex. Lab. Code § 61.051: wage-claim filing deadline — see quote above. —
  http://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Tex. Lab. Code § 61.053: bad-faith administrative penalty — see quote
  above. —
  http://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.61.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-06)