When is your final paycheck due in Texas?

The Texas rule in full

An employer must pay in full an employee who is discharged from employment not later than the sixth day after the date of the discharge. The clock runs from the effective date of discharge, which is not always the last day physically worked. Where that sixth calendar day falls on a day the employer is normally closed for business, the Workforce Commission's guidance allows payment on the next regular workday.

A payroll team will usually answer this question from its own calendar. The deadline comes from the statute, so it is worth checking the date you were given against the rule above before you accept it.

Does Texas pay out unused PTO?

No Texas or federal law requires an employer to pay out accrued but unused leave. What changes the answer is a written policy or agreement: where leave is promised in writing, the Workforce Commission treats it as an enforceable part of the wage agreement under the Texas Payday Law, and enforces it according to what the policy actually provides. That cuts both ways — a policy that promises payout is binding, and a policy that is silent or expressly forfeits generally means no payout. The same logic applies to sick leave, which Texas also leaves entirely to the written policy.

Tex. Labor Code ch. 61; TWC vacation and sick leave guidance

What it costs your employer to pay late

No automatic waiting-time penalty. Where the Workforce Commission finds an employer acted in bad faith in not paying wages, it may assess an administrative penalty capped at the lesser of the wages in question or $1,000, weighing the seriousness of the violation, any history of previous violations, deterrence and mitigating circumstances.

What your employer may deduct

An employer may withhold or divert part of your wages in only three situations: where a court of competent jurisdiction orders it, where state or federal law authorizes it, or where it has your written authorization to deduct for a lawful purpose. Verbal agreement to a deduction is not enough.

Tex. Labor Code § 61.018

How to claim unpaid wages in Texas

File a wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission. Do not wait for an internal HR process to run its course — the filing deadline is jurisdictional, which means the Commission cannot hear a late claim even if it is plainly meritorious and even if the delay was the employer's doing.

Before you file

1. 1Ask payroll in writing for an itemized breakdown of the final payment and the date it was issued. A written record is what every later step depends on, and the request itself is often what resolves it.
2. 2Save your pay stubs, offer letter, any written notice of your last day, and the employer's PTO policy. Do it now if you still have system access.
3. 3Note the exact date the wages became due under the Texas rule above, and the date you were actually paid. The gap between them is the claim.
4. 4If it is still unresolved, file with the agency above rather than waiting for HR. The filing deadline runs from when the wages were due, not from when the employer stops replying.

Texas final paycheck questions