Human Resource Blog

Federal Minimum Wage in Texas

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Do you have to pay the minimum wage if you have less than 10 employees? Should part-time workers be paid the minimum wage? We are a Texas company covered by the federal minimum wage.

The number of employees is not the only factor that comes into play when determining whether or not a company must pay the minimum wage.

The amount of business an employer does will be an important element. According to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the current minimum wage is $5.85 an hour. It applies to employees of any company with 2 or more workers, provided the company does at least a half-million dollars of business annually.

Currently the federal minimum wage is $5.85 per hour. On July 24, 2008, the federal minimum wage will increase to $6.55 per hour. Texas is one of 12 states that sets the state minimum wage at the same level as the federal minimum wage.

The FLSA minimum wage also applies if an employee’s duties involve interstate commerce on a regular basis. If a factory worker helps assemble goods that are going to be sold out of state, then that factory worker is covered by FLSA, even if the company is doing less than $500,000 a year in business. That applies as well to employees who must regularly take or make out-of-state telephone calls, along with those who sort, receive, or send any packages and mail from out of state.

The law is also applicable to any hospital or business that provides nursing care or medical care for residents. And all schools, preschools, and government agencies are covered.

Domestic workers (that would include housekeepers, cooks, and maids) must be paid the minimum wage, because they also are covered by the FLSA. Full-time babysitters are covered, but not babysitters who work part time.

It is important to remember that there are some states that have passed minimum wages that are higher than the federal rate. Employees are usually entitled to the higher state wage in those cases.

No state or federal law permits employees to pay part-time workers less than the federal minimum wage. Under some conditions, workers under 20 years old may be paid $4.25 an hour during the first 90 days of their employment. They must not be replacing an older worker, however. Finally, there are some disabled employees and student-learners who may be paid less than the federal minimum.

In all, it is estimated that in excess of 130 million U.S. workers are covered by the FLSA minimum wage law. JH