Texas Wage and Hour Lawsuits

Dallas, TXTexas employment lawsuits include allegations about wage and hour violations, meaning employers are allegedly not paying their employees the minimum wage required by Texas labor law or not properly paying overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

In Texas the current hourly minimum wage for employees not exempt from minimum wage is $7.25. The state adopts the federal minimum wage rate, so whatever the federal minimum wage rate is, that is the minimum non-exempt employees are entitled to in Texas. Additionally, the FLSA requires non-exempt employees to be paid at one-and-one-half times the regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek.

Employees are generally required to be paid for all time spent in activities that are considered a regular part of the job. According to the Department of Labor’s “Fact Sheet #22: Hours Worked Under the Fair Labor Standards Act,” a workday is “The period between the time on any particular day when such employee commences his/her principal activity and the time on that day at which he/she ceases such principal activity or activities.”

Furthermore, even if work is not requested but is permitted to be performed, the employer must pay for that time. So if an employee voluntarily stays behind shift to finish up a task, that time spent working must be paid. It is considered on the clock and the employee must be paid. Problems - and lawsuits - arise when employees are not paid the minimum wage, when they are classified as exempt from overtime when they are not, and when employees are asked to perform tasks off the clock that they should be paid for.

Issues also arise when an employer and employee disagree over whether certain duties should be classified as on-the-clock work. Lawsuits have been filed in various states and against a variety of employers alleging that employees should be paid for time spent waiting onsite for security screening (or bag checks) before they can leave at the end of a shift or for their unpaid break. These lawsuits allege that employees may be required to stay onsite for 10 minutes or more waiting for the security check but are not paid for that time, even though it is mandatory for the job and benefits the employer.

Employees who have not been paid properly for regular or overtime hours can file a lawsuit against their employer to recover lost wages. They may also recover punitive damages, depending on the circumstances of the missing pay.