Can my Bexar County employer fire me without a reason?

Generally yes. Texas is an at-will employment state, which means an employer can fire an employee for almost any reason, or no reason at all, with or without notice — and likewise an employee can quit at any time. But at-will employment has important exceptions, and a termination that falls within one of them is unlawful. You cannot be fired because of a protected characteristic (race, color, national origin, sex including pregnancy, religion, age 40 or older, disability, or genetic information) under federal law and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (Chapter 21, Tex. Lab. Code). You cannot be fired in retaliation for protected activity, such as filing a workers' compensation claim (a specific Texas protection under Tex. Lab. Code §451.001), reporting discrimination or harassment, or, for public employees, certain whistleblowing. You also can't be fired for refusing to commit an illegal act (the narrow Sabine Pilot public-policy exception), or in violation of an employment contract or a company policy that created enforceable rights. Texas has no state law requiring "good cause" for termination outside these exceptions. If you believe your firing fits an exception — especially discrimination or retaliation — note that the deadlines to file a charge are short (180/300 days), so consult the TWC Civil Rights Division, the EEOC San Antonio office, or an employment attorney quickly.

My Bexar County employer hasn't paid me all my wages. What can I do?

Texas gives you a state administrative remedy through the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) under the Texas Payday Law (Tex. Lab. Code Ch. 61). You can file a wage claim with the TWC for unpaid wages — including regular pay, earned commissions and bonuses that are due under an agreement, and final wages after separation — generally within 180 days of the date the wages were due. This is a short deadline, so don't wait. The TWC investigates, and if it finds wages are owed it can issue an order for payment (and in some cases assess a penalty for a bad-faith failure to pay). The Payday Law does not, however, cover overtime — Texas has no state overtime law, so unpaid overtime is a federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) matter, pursued through the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division or a private FLSA lawsuit, with a two-year lookback (three years for willful violations) and the potential for liquidated (double) damages. Keep your own records of hours worked and pay received, since employers who underpay often keep poor records. San Antonio's hospitality, construction, and healthcare workers frequently encounter these issues, including being misclassified as exempt or as independent contractors to avoid overtime. Texas RioGrande Legal Aid can assist income-qualifying workers, and the San Antonio Bar LawReferral Service (210-227-1853) can refer you to an employment attorney.

Is the non-compete agreement my San Antonio employer wants me to sign enforceable?

Possibly — Texas enforces non-competes, unlike some states that ban them, so you should take one seriously. Under the Texas Covenants Not to Compete Act (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §15.50), a non-compete is enforceable if it is (1) ancillary to an otherwise enforceable agreement (for example, one where the employer provides confidential information, specialized training, or goodwill in exchange) and (2) reasonable in its time period, geographic scope, and the range of activity it restricts, no broader than necessary to protect the employer's legitimate business interest. A common enforceable non-compete might restrict you from working for a direct competitor in the San Antonio area for a limited period (often one to two years). If a court finds a non-compete overbroad, Texas law directs the court to "reform" (narrow) it to what's reasonable rather than throwing it out entirely — so an unreasonable clause isn't necessarily void. Related non-solicitation (of customers or employees) and confidentiality agreements are also generally enforceable. This matters in San Antonio's healthcare, financial-services (including USAA), technology, and sales sectors. Before signing, or before leaving a job with a non-compete to join a competitor, have an employment attorney review the specific language — the enforceability turns on the details and the reasonableness of the restrictions.

I was discriminated against or harassed at my San Antonio job. Where and how do I file?

Discrimination and harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and, under current federal interpretation, sexual orientation and gender identity), religion, age 40 or older, disability, or genetic information are prohibited by federal law (Title VII, the ADA, the ADEA) and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (Chapter 21, Tex. Lab. Code). To preserve your rights, you generally must file an administrative charge before you can sue. You can file with the Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which has a San Antonio Field Office (5410 Fredericksburg Rd., Suite 200, San Antonio TX 78229); the two agencies have a work-sharing arrangement, so filing with one generally cross-files with the other. The deadlines are short and strictly enforced: 180 days from the discriminatory act under Texas law, extended to 300 days under the federal system in a "deferral" state like Texas. After investigating, the agency can issue a right-to-sue notice, after which you have a limited time to file a lawsuit. Document the conduct contemporaneously — dates, witnesses, and any written communications — and report harassment through your employer's internal process where one exists, since that can be relevant to liability. Because the filing deadlines are so short, consult the EEOC, the TWC Civil Rights Division, or an employment attorney promptly.

I was hurt at work in Bexar County but my employer has no workers' comp. What are my options?

Texas is one of the few states that doesn't require most private employers to carry workers' compensation insurance, so the first question is whether your employer is a "subscriber" (carries workers' comp) or a "non-subscriber" (opted out). If your employer is a subscriber, workers' comp benefits are generally your exclusive remedy against the employer, and you'd pursue a comp claim through the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation — though you can still sue a negligent third party (like a subcontractor or equipment manufacturer). If your employer is a non-subscriber, the calculus changes significantly in the injured worker's favor: you can sue the employer directly for negligence, and Texas law strips a non-subscriber employer of the common-law defenses of contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and the fellow-servant rule — meaning even if you were partly careless, the employer generally cannot use that to defeat your claim. You do, however, have to prove the employer's negligence caused the injury. San Antonio's construction, manufacturing, warehouse, and service industries include many non-subscriber employers. Because whether the employer subscribes changes the entire approach, and because non-subscriber cases can be substantial, an attorney experienced in Texas work-injury law should evaluate your situation; many handle these on contingency.

Employment Law in Bexar County, Texas

Employment Law around Bexar County, Texas: schedule change records, accommodation paperwork, and administrative friction

A cleaner employment law page for Bexar County, Texas built around schedule change records, accommodation paperwork, administrative friction, and the records worth protecting early.

Reviewed January 2026 3 min read Official-source grounded Ver en Espanol En Español

Key Takeaways

Texas is at-will and right-to-work (Lab. Code Ch. 101); terminations are lawful unless they hit an exception (discrimination, retaliation, contract)
No state minimum wage above federal ($7.25) and no state overtime — overtime is a federal FLSA matter (2-3 year lookback, possible double damages)
Unpaid wages go to the Texas Workforce Commission under the Payday Law (Lab. Code Ch. 61) — file within 180 days
Non-competes ARE enforceable in Texas if reasonable (Bus. & Com. Code §15.50); courts reform overbroad ones rather than voiding them
Discrimination charges (Texas Labor Code Ch. 21 / Title VII) go to the TWC Civil Rights Division or EEOC San Antonio (5410 Fredericksburg Rd.) within 180/300 days
Texas doesn’t require workers’ comp — a non-subscriber employer can be sued directly and loses contributory-negligence and assumption-of-risk defenses

Employment law in Bexar County operates under a framework very different from many states: Texas is an at-will, right-to-work state with comparatively few state-specific worker protections beyond federal law. At-will employment means an employer can generally terminate an employee for any reason or no reason, with or without notice, unless a specific exception applies — such as an employment contract, or a firing that violates an anti-discrimination statute or another narrow public-policy protection. "Right-to-work" (Tex. Lab. Code Ch. 101) means an employee cannot be required to join or pay a union as a condition of employment. Because Texas has no state minimum wage above the federal level and no state overtime law, most wage-and-hour protections come from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which sets the $7.25 minimum wage and requires overtime at time-and-a-half over 40 hours a week for non-exempt employees.

Unpaid wages are handled through the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) under the Texas Payday Law (Tex. Lab. Code Ch. 61), which lets an employee file a wage claim for unpaid wages (including earned commissions and bonuses and, in some cases, unpaid final wages) generally within 180 days of when the wages were due — a relatively short window. The TWC investigates and can order payment. For overtime and minimum-wage violations, the federal FLSA route (through the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, which has a San Antonio-area presence, or a private FLSA lawsuit) applies, with a two-year lookback (three years for willful violations). San Antonio's large hospitality and tourism workforce (hotels, the River Walk, and the Alamo area), its construction and manufacturing sectors, and its healthcare and call-center employers all generate wage-and-hour and misclassification issues, including workers misclassified as independent contractors or as exempt from overtime.

Non-compete agreements are enforceable in Texas if they meet statutory requirements — a sharp contrast with states that ban them. Under the Texas Covenants Not to Compete Act (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §15.50), a non-compete is enforceable if it is ancillary to an otherwise enforceable agreement and is reasonable in time, geographic area, and scope of activity, not greater than necessary to protect the employer's legitimate business interest (such as goodwill or confidential information). Texas courts will "reform" an overbroad non-compete to make it reasonable rather than voiding it. This matters in San Antonio's healthcare, technology, financial-services (including the large USAA workforce), and sales sectors, where non-competes and related non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements are common, and where a departing employee needs to understand what they can and cannot do.

Employment discrimination and harassment are prohibited by both federal law (Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA) and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code), which the TWC Civil Rights Division enforces. A charge generally must be filed with the TWC Civil Rights Division or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which has a San Antonio Field Office (5410 Fredericksburg Rd., Suite 200, San Antonio TX 78229), and a strict deadline applies — 180 days under Texas law (or 300 days under the federal filing arrangement) from the discriminatory act — after which an administrative charge is generally required before a lawsuit. These are much shorter deadlines than the general injury statute of limitations, so acting promptly is essential.

Texas does not require most private employers to carry workers' compensation insurance, which affects on-the-job injuries (a "non-subscriber" employer can be sued directly for negligence and loses key defenses). It also has no state family-and-medical-leave law beyond the federal FMLA and no state paid-sick-leave requirement (local paid-sick-leave ordinances passed by some Texas cities were struck down or preempted). For income-qualifying workers, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and the St. Mary's University legal clinics assist with wage, discrimination, and related claims, and the San Antonio Bar LawReferral Service (210-227-1853) refers to employment attorneys, many of whom handle discrimination and wage cases on contingency or a mix of fee arrangements.

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