AbsentEase
Texas sick leave law & call-off rules
Texas gives employers more latitude on sick leave and attendance than almost any other state — no mandated paid sick days, no required breaks, and at-will employment. That latitude comes with a catch: since your policy is the law that applies, courts and the Texas Workforce Commission hold you to what it says and how consistently you enforce it. Here is what applies in 2026.
Texas at a glance
| Paid sick leave mandate | None — no state law requires private employers to offer sick leave |
|---|---|
| Local sick-leave ordinances | Austin, Dallas & San Antonio ordinances blocked in court; state law preempts new ones |
| Employment relationship | At-will — attendance terminations allowed absent a protected reason |
| PTO payout at termination | Only if your written policy promises it |
| Final paycheck deadline | Fired: within 6 calendar days · Quit: next regular payday |
| Meal & rest breaks | Not required (short breaks you do offer are paid time under federal law) |
| FMLA (federal) | Applies at 50+ employees within 75 miles — 12 weeks unpaid, job-protected |
Is paid sick leave required in Texas?
No. Texas has no statewide paid or unpaid sick leave requirement for private employers. Austin (2018), San Antonio, and Dallas each passed local paid-sick-leave ordinances; every one was blocked in court, and state preemption law now bars cities from imposing their own. Practical effect: a Texas employer's sick-leave obligations come from its own written policy, plus the federal laws below.
The federal floor that still applies
FMLA
Employers with 50+ employees within 75 miles must give eligible employees (12+ months tenure, 1,250+ hours in the past year) up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for a serious health condition — their own or a close family member's. FMLA-protected absences can't accrue attendance points, and a call-off that mentions an ongoing condition can be notice enough to trigger your FMLA obligations, even if the employee never says "FMLA."
ADA
For employers with 15+ employees, the ADA can require modified attendance expectations or unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation for a disability. An attendance policy applied "no exceptions" is exactly the kind that loses ADA cases — build an accommodation carve-out into the policy itself.
FLSA overtime and attendance bonuses
A cash bonus promised in advance for good attendance counts as wages under federal overtime law. It has to be added into the regular rate for the weeks it covers, so any of those weeks over 40 hours owes extra overtime on the bonus, usually recalculated after the bonus is paid. State overtime law can add to this, but can't go below it. See how attendance bonuses change overtime pay.
Call-offs, no-call no-shows, and firing in Texas
Texas employment is at-will: absent a protected reason, you may discipline or terminate for attendance, including a single no-call no-show. What trips employers up isn't the law — it's the record. When a termination is challenged (unemployment claims at the Texas Workforce Commission, or a discrimination charge), the questions are always the same: What does the written policy say? Was this employee treated like everyone else? And can you produce the call-off history? A time-stamped log of every call-off — who, when, what they said — is the difference between a five-minute answer and a dispute. That's the core of what a call-off hotline or text-based call-off system exists to produce.
After a no call, no show termination in Texas
| Does Texas law define job abandonment? | No statute or regulation defines job abandonment; it is set by employer policy, and the Texas Workforce Commission's employer guidance states there is no official definition in the statute or TWC regulations, that handbooks commonly define it as absence without notice for three or more days in a row, and that such separations are generally treated as voluntary. (Tex. Lab. Code §§ 207.045(a), 207.044(a), 201.012(a)) |
|---|---|
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a discharge | An employer must pay in full an employee who is discharged not later than the sixth day after the date of discharge ('day' means calendar day). (Tex. Lab. Code § 61.014(a); § 61.001(2)) |
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a resignation | An employee who leaves employment other than by discharge (quit, with or without notice; the statute draws no distinction) must be paid in full not later than the next regularly scheduled payday. (Tex. Lab. Code § 61.014(b)) |
| Accrued PTO at separation | No state requirement; owed only if your written policy promises it. Vacation pay, holiday pay, sick leave pay, parental leave pay and severance pay count as 'wages' recoverable under the Payday Law only when owed under a written agreement or written policy of the employer, so payout at separation is required only if the employer's written policy or agreement provides for it (the TWC's Payday Law page says the same). (Tex. Lab. Code § 61.001(7)(B)) |
| Unemployment claims | A claimant who left the last work voluntarily without good cause connected with the work is disqualified until reemployed for six weeks or earning six times the weekly benefit amount (Tex. Lab. Code § 207.045(a)-(b)); discharge for misconduct connected with the last work carries the same disqualification (§ 207.044), with 'misconduct' defined in § 201.012 to include violation of a policy or rule adopted to ensure orderly work. |
If a state agency later treats a "resignation" as a discharge, the discharge deadline governs, so pay by the earlier of the two when in doubt. Document each step with the no call, no show write-up and termination letter templates, which fill in Texas's final-pay rule.
Write a no call, no show policy that fits Texas
Start from our no call, no show policy guide and free template, or let the generator turn nine quick questions into a signature-ready policy with Texas already selected so the protected-leave section covers the federal FMLA and ADA rules that still apply here.
PTO payout and final paychecks
| Scenario | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employee is fired or laid off | Final pay due within 6 calendar days | Texas Payday Law |
| Employee quits | Final pay due by the next regular payday | Texas Payday Law |
| Unused PTO at termination | Payout owed only if a written policy or agreement promises it — then it's enforceable as wages | Texas Payday Law |
| Policy silent on payout | No payout generally owed — say what you mean in the policy | — |
A policy that promises payout is enforceable as wages, so write the payout rule deliberately — see how PTO accrual works.
Leave Texas employers must (and must not) provide
| Leave type | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Voting | Yes — paid | Unless the employee has 2 consecutive non-working hours while polls are open |
| Jury duty | Yes — unpaid | Firing or penalizing an employee for jury service is prohibited |
| Military | Yes | USERRA (federal) plus Texas provisions for state military forces |
| Sick leave | No | Whatever your written policy provides |
| Vacation / PTO | No | Policy-driven; see payout rules above |
Texas also requires no meal or rest breaks; if you offer short breaks (under 20 minutes), federal law says they're paid time.
The Texas employer's attendance playbook
- Put it in writing. A written policy — call-off deadline and channel, points or steps, the no-call no-show rule, and carve-outs for legally protected absences — is what makes discipline defensible. Our attendance policy guide walks through it.
- Give call-offs one channel. "Tell whoever answers" is how records get lost. One number every employee texts or calls makes the record automatic.
- Log everything with timestamps. Unemployment hearings and discrimination charges are won on contemporaneous records, not recollections.
- Enforce consistently. Uneven enforcement converts a lawful termination into a discrimination claim.
- Screen call-offs for protected reasons before applying points — sickness that could be FMLA/ADA territory gets a different track than an overslept alarm.
Comparing states? See all published guides on the state sick leave laws hub.