Texas: Pay Frequency and Wage-Payment Lag Requirements

Requirements one by one

The exemption split controls frequency

Section 61.011 uses federal overtime-exempt status as the dividing line. An
employee exempt from the FLSA overtime provisions must be paid at least once a
month. Every other covered employee must be paid at least twice a month. The
statute does not say that every employee called "salaried" qualifies for the
monthly schedule; the employee must actually be exempt from federal overtime.

Semimonthly periods must be nearly equal

When an employer pays twice monthly, § 61.011(c) requires each pay period to
contain "as nearly as possible of an equal number of days." A schedule using
the 1st-15th and 16th-month-end is the straightforward model. A schedule that
loads most of the month into one period and only a few days into the other
would not match the statutory structure even if two checks are issued.

Texas does not add a California-style rule saying payday must fall within a
fixed number of days after the period closes. The controlling deadline is the
employer's designated payday. If wages are not paid then for any reason,
§ 61.013 requires payment on another regular business day when the employee
requests it.

Designate and post the paydays

Section 61.012 requires the employer to designate paydays that comply with the
frequency rule and post notice of them conspicuously in the workplace. If the
employer never designates paydays, the statute supplies them automatically:
the first and fifteenth of each month.

Commissions and bonuses

Under § 61.015, the employment agreement or applicable collective-bargaining
agreement determines when a commission or bonus is earned and due. But the
statute then says those amounts must still be paid in a timely manner under the
chapter's ordinary wage-payment rules. An agreement can define the earning
condition; it does not erase the recurring payday law once the amount is due.

Wage claim and penalties

An employee may file a verified wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission
under § 61.051, but it must arrive within 180 days after the wages became due;
the statute calls that deadline jurisdictional. The examiner may order unpaid
wages, and § 61.053 allows a separate bad-faith administrative penalty up to
the lesser of the wages at issue or $1,000.

The criminal provision is narrower than an ordinary late-pay violation.
Section 61.019(b)-(d) requires intent to avoid payment, intent to keep employing
the worker, and failure to pay after demand; when those elements exist, each
unpaid pay period is a separate third-degree felony offense.

What trips people up

"Twice a month" and "every two weeks" are different calendars. Texas requires
at least twice-monthly pay for nonexempt employees, so either a compliant
semimonthly schedule or a more frequent biweekly/weekly schedule can work. But
if the employer describes the schedule as semimonthly, the two periods must be
nearly equal in days.

The Texas statute does not provide a separate payroll-lag number. That absence
does not make the payday optional: § 61.012 requires designated and posted
paydays, and § 61.013 supplies the employee's right to request payment on
another regular business day after a missed payday.

This page covers recurring payroll only. Section 61.014 sets different final-
paycheck deadlines after a discharge or resignation, so an employer cannot
assume the ordinary monthly or semimonthly schedule always controls after
employment ends.

Common questions

Can Texas pay a nonexempt employee once a month?

No. Section 61.011(b) requires an employee who is not covered by the overtime-
exempt monthly rule to be paid at least twice a month.

What if the employer never announced a payday?

Section 61.012(b) makes the first and fifteenth the paydays when the employer
fails to designate its own compliant schedule.

Is every late paycheck automatically a felony?

No. Section 61.019 requires the specific intent and demand elements quoted
above. An ordinary unpaid-wage claim proceeds through the Chapter 61 wage-
claim process without assuming those criminal elements exist.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Lab. Code §§ 61.001(3)-(5), 61.003. Covered private employment and
  exclusions. Official Chapter 61 PDF
  (accessed July 12, 2026).
• Tex. Lab. Code § 61.011. Monthly-versus-twice-monthly frequency and
  nearly-equal semimonthly periods. Official Chapter 61 PDF
  (accessed July 12, 2026).
• Tex. Lab. Code §§ 61.012-.013. Payday designation, posting, statutory
  default dates, and payment after a missed payday. Official Chapter 61 PDF
  (accessed July 12, 2026).
• Tex. Lab. Code § 61.015. Commissions and bonuses. Official Chapter 61 PDF
  (accessed July 12, 2026).
• Tex. Lab. Code § 61.019. Intent-based criminal provision. Official Chapter 61 PDF
  (accessed July 12, 2026).
• Tex. Lab. Code §§ 61.051-.053. Wage-claim deadline, unpaid-wage order,
  and bad-faith administrative penalty. Official Chapter 61 PDF
  (accessed July 12, 2026).