If your pay is missing or wrong, ask your employer first, then file a wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) if it is not fixed. Texas Labor Code Chapter 61, the Payday Law, says the claim must be filed not later than the 180th day after the wages became due. That deadline is strict: a late claim is dismissed.
Checked against Texas Labor Code Chapter 61 on the Texas Legislature site on October 16, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. TWC handles the claims, so its forms and instructions come first.
What the Payday Law says
- How often you get paid. Workers who are not exempt from federal overtime rules must be paid at least twice a month. Exempt workers must be paid at least once a month.
- Paydays are posted. The employer designates paydays and posts them at the workplace. If it never designates them, paydays are the 1st and 15th of each month.
- Deductions. An employer may not hold back part of your wages unless a court orders it, a state or federal law allows it, or you gave written permission for a lawful purpose.
- Leaving the job. If you are fired, final pay is due within six days. If you quit, it is due by the next regular payday.
Check your pay first
- Compare the hours on your pay record with your own notes for the same days.
- Check the pay rate you were promised against the rate on the record.
- Look at each deduction and ask what it is for. Keep any written permission you signed.
- Ask your employer in writing to fix the error, and keep a copy.
How a wage claim works
- You file on a TWC form and verify it yourself. The law allows filing in person at a TWC office, by mail, by fax or electronically.
- You can ask TWC for the wage claim form in English or Spanish.
- A TWC examiner looks at the claim and issues a preliminary order that either dismisses it or orders payment of wages found due.
Free tool: 180-day deadline
Enter the payday when the wages were due. Nothing is saved.
Go to the official sources
TWC runs wage claims. The law itself is on the Texas Legislature site.
Texas Workforce Commission
Wage claim forms and filing instructions under the Payday Law.
Texas Labor Code, Chapter 61
The full text of the Payday Law.
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