Payroll and Benefits Guide United States – Texas

Annual Leave (vacation)

Texas does not have any state laws that govern the amount and payment of vacation time, however, it is common for employers to decide whether to offer paid or unpaid vacation leave.

This must comply with employment law and must be stipulated in the collective bargaining agreements.

Public Holidays

Public holidays are not mandatory paid days off, but employers commonly allow workers to take federal holidays as paid days off.

Some companies might also agree to allow workers to take off state holidays; workers can find specific state holiday dates from their local government.

Sick Days

Sick leave falls under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which provides leave for an employee with a serious health condition that makes them unable to perform the essential functions of their job.

It is common for an employer to follow the FMLA which provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for certain family and medical reasons (maternity leave, serious illnesses, or if the employee needs to care for a spouse or child).

Employees are eligible for FMLA if they have worked for their employer for at least one year, completed a minimum of 1,250 hours over the past year, and worked at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.

Maternity Leave

Maternity leave falls under the FMLA (see sick leave) which allows a mother:

• 12 working weeks of leave in any one year for a child’s birth and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth.

In addition to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Texas has the following additional law regarding Maternity and Paternity Leave (Pregnancy Disability Leave), Texas’s law against discrimination.

This law requires employers with six or more employees to provide employees with leave due to disabilities related to pregnancy or childbirth for the duration of such disability (pregnancy and childbirth is treated as any other type of temporary disability for all employment-related purposes, including benefits such as receipt of fringe benefits).

Employers must reinstate employees to their previous or comparable position upon their return.

Paternity Leave

Paternity leave falls under the FMLA (see sick leave), which allows fathers:

• Twelve working weeks of leave in any one year for a child’s birth and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth.

The Texas Law Against Discrimination applies (see maternity leave).

Parental Leave

Parental leave falls under the FMLA (see sick leave), which allows for:

• Leave for the adoption or foster care of a child and care for the newly placed child within one year of placement.
• Any qualifying necessity arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on covered active duty.

Other Leave

Leave for the care of an employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a severe health condition falls under the FMLA (see sick leave).

Alternatively, an employee may take 26 working weeks of leave during a single one-year period to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the service member’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).

Other leave under Texas law includes:

• Jury Duty: Texas law states that all employers must provide their full-time employees job-protected but unpaid time off from work to perform their duty as jurors. Employees must provide a copy of the jury summons to the employer as evidence of requirement.
• Voting Leave: Texas law requires all employers to grant their employees who are registered to vote up to two hours of paid leave to vote in any municipal, county, state, federal primary, or general election. Employees must provide reasonable notice to their employers to take time off to vote.
•  Employees may request unpaid leave to attend a state or local political convention.