I was fired from a Dallas County company. Do I have any legal rights in Texas?

Texas is an at-will employment state, which means an employer can generally fire an employee at any time, for any reason, or for no reason — without owing any severance, notice, or explanation — as long as the reason is not independently unlawful. This is different from states with just-cause termination requirements. However, "any reason that's not unlawful" excludes a significant range of protected conduct. You cannot be fired because of your race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age (40+), disability, pregnancy, or genetic information under federal law (Title VII, ADA, ADEA, PDA, GINA) and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act. You cannot be fired in retaliation for filing an EEOC or TWC charge, for complaining about discrimination or harassment, for requesting a reasonable accommodation for a disability, for taking FMLA leave, for reporting a safety violation to OSHA, or for refusing to commit an illegal act. And you cannot be fired for serving on jury duty (a specific Texas protection). If you believe any of these protections were violated, you typically must file an administrative charge with the EEOC (Dallas District Office; 207 S. Houston St.; 800-669-4000) or the TWC within 300 days of the adverse action. For wage violations, the TWC Payday Law process requires filing within 180 days. Consult an employment attorney promptly because these deadlines are jurisdictional — missing them bars the claim. Many Dallas County employment attorneys offer free initial consultations and handle cases on contingency.

My Dallas employer hasn't paid my wages or overtime. What are my options?

Texas and federal law both provide remedies for unpaid wages, with the federal route generally providing stronger remedies. For any wages that were promised and not paid — salary, hourly wages, commissions, bonuses, or tips — the Texas Payday Law (Tex. Lab. Code Ch. 61) allows you to file a wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) within 180 days of when the wages were due. The TWC investigates claims and can order payment plus a 1% administrative penalty per day, up to certain limits, but the TWC process is slower and less powerful than the federal alternative. For overtime violations — unpaid overtime for non-exempt employees working more than 40 hours per week — the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides stronger remedies: double damages (equal to the unpaid amount) plus attorney fees, with no recovery cap, and a two-year limitation period (three years for willful violations). You can file an FLSA complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (Dallas District Office; 525 Griffin St., Suite 800, Dallas TX 75202; 972-850-2600), or file a private lawsuit in federal district court. Most FLSA attorneys take these cases on contingency. Misclassification as an independent contractor when you should be treated as an employee — common in construction, cleaning, delivery, and gig work — is the most frequent source of overtime and minimum-wage violations. The test for classification is economic reality, not what your contract says, and many workers misclassified as contractors are entitled to overtime and minimum wage. If you were paid in cash "off the books," you still have legal rights — immigration status does not affect your right to wages under Texas or federal law.

I was discriminated against or sexually harassed at my Dallas County job. What do I do?

Workplace discrimination and sexual harassment are prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (TCHRA, Tex. Lab. Code Ch. 21), and related federal statutes. Before you can file a lawsuit, you must file an administrative charge with the EEOC (Dallas District Office; 207 S. Houston St., 3rd Floor, Dallas TX 75202; 800-669-4000). In Texas, you have 300 days from the date of the discriminatory act or the last act in an ongoing hostile work environment to file the EEOC charge — this deadline is firm and missing it typically bars the entire lawsuit. For sexual harassment specifically, the law distinguishes between quid pro quo harassment (employment benefits conditioned on sexual favors) and hostile work environment harassment (conduct severe or pervasive enough to alter the conditions of employment). Both are actionable under Title VII and the TCHRA. Employers with notice of harassment who fail to take prompt corrective action are themselves liable. Document everything contemporaneously: save emails, text messages, voicemails, and social media messages; write down dates, times, locations, and witnesses to incidents; keep performance reviews and any positive feedback that predates the complaint. Retaliation against an employee for filing an EEOC charge, reporting harassment internally, or participating in an investigation is prohibited and is independently actionable — employers in Dallas County sometimes retaliate subtly (changed hours, reduced responsibilities, isolated work assignments) rather than firing, and these actions can form a separate retaliation claim. The EEOC may investigate, attempt conciliation, and issue a right-to-sue letter. Once the letter issues, you have 90 days to file a lawsuit in federal district court. Many Dallas employment attorneys handle discrimination cases on contingency.

I'm a Dallas County construction worker and was hurt on the job. Am I covered by workers' comp?

Not necessarily — and this is one of the most important threshold questions in a Texas job-injury case. Texas does not require most private employers to carry workers' compensation insurance, and a significant percentage of Dallas County's construction, landscaping, and home-services employers operate as non-subscribers. If your employer subscribes to Texas workers' comp (Tex. Lab. Code Ch. 406 et seq.), you are covered: workers' comp pays for medical treatment and a portion of lost wages without requiring you to prove the employer's fault, but in most cases you cannot sue the employer in civil court (the exclusive-remedy bar applies). You can still sue third parties — general contractors, other subcontractors, property owners, equipment manufacturers — whose negligence contributed to your injury, and those third-party suits are not limited by workers' comp. If your employer is a non-subscriber (opted out), you can sue the employer directly for negligence — and Texas strips non-subscriber employers of three key defenses: contributory negligence (they can't argue you were partly at fault), assumption of the risk (they can't argue the work was inherently dangerous), and the fellow-servant rule (they can't blame a coworker). These removed defenses make non-subscriber claims significantly more favorable for injured workers. To determine your employer's status, contact the Texas Department of Insurance (800-578-4677) or check the TDI database online. Filing a workers' comp claim (if a subscriber) and filing a civil suit (if a non-subscriber or for third parties) require different procedures and different attorneys in some cases — consult a Dallas County construction injury attorney immediately, because evidence of workplace conditions and the cause of the injury degrades quickly.

Does Texas have any minimum wage or overtime protections beyond federal law?

Texas does not have a state minimum wage law that exceeds the federal minimum — Texas adopts the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour (as of 2024) with no state supplement. Unlike states such as California or New York, Texas has not enacted a higher state floor. Texas also does not have an independent state overtime law; overtime obligations for Texas employees come from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which requires overtime pay at 1.5 times the regular rate for non-exempt employees working more than 40 hours in a workweek. Texas does have several significant employment laws of its own, however. The Texas Payday Law (Tex. Lab. Code Ch. 61) requires payment of wages on the scheduled payday and covers all agreed compensation — it is the mechanism for recovering unpaid wages (including commissions and bonuses) through the TWC administrative process within 180 days of the due date. The Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (TCHRA, Ch. 21) provides state-law anti-discrimination protections mirroring federal law. Texas also protects employees who serve on jury duty from adverse employment action, protects those who participate in state criminal proceedings (witness testimony), and provides some protections for employees who in good faith report violations of law (Tex. Lab. Code §554 for governmental employees; more limited for private-sector whistleblowing). For employees working in the Dallas County city limits, city ordinances on certain employment conditions (non-discrimination, paid sick leave) have been the subject of ongoing legal battles in Texas, and their enforceability should be verified with current legal advice. Texas law generally preempts local labor regulations under a 1993 law, limiting what cities can require.

Employment Law in Dallas County, Texas

Dallas County is one of the largest employment markets in the southern United States, home to major corporate headquarters (AT&T, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Texas Instruments, Toyota Financial Services, Kimberly-Clark, Jacobs Engineering, and many others), a vast healthcare sector, one of the fastest-growing tech and financial-services sectors in the country, and enormous hospitality, construction, and service industries. All of this employment operates under Texas's at-will doctrine: absent a written contract, collective bargaining agreement, or a specific statutory protection, either the employer or the employee may end the employment at any time for any reason that is not independently unlawful. Texas does not have a state employment protection statute providing employees with a general right to a "just cause" termination, so the focus of employment law protection in Dallas County is on the specific statutory prohibitions against discrimination, retaliation, non-payment of wages, and unsafe workplaces.

Non-compete agreements are significantly more enforceable in Texas than in California or several other states but must meet the requirements of the Texas Covenants Not to Compete Act (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §15.50): the covenant must be ancillary to or part of an otherwise enforceable agreement (a confidentiality obligation, a training promise, an equity grant, or access to specialized trade secrets), and the limitations on time, geographic area, and scope of activity must each be reasonable. Texas courts regularly enforce properly drafted non-competes in the corporate and tech sectors, and they have authority to reform (reduce) rather than void overly broad restrictions in most cases. Dallas County's large professional workforce in financial services, technology, media, and corporate management encounters non-compete issues frequently when employees leave one employer for a competitor or start their own venture. Because non-compete enforcement can result in a court injunction — immediately halting the new employment — these situations demand prompt legal attention, ideally before resigning or accepting a competing offer.

Wage and hour enforcement in Dallas County operates at two levels: the Texas Payday Law (Tex. Lab. Code Ch. 61) administered by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), which handles claims for unpaid wages, commissions, and bonuses through an administrative process (TWC complaints must be filed within 180 days of the wage becoming due), and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (Dallas District Office; 525 Griffin St., Suite 800, Dallas TX 75202; 972-850-2600) and through private federal lawsuits. The FLSA provides stronger remedies — double (liquidated) damages plus attorney fees, with a two-year (or three-year for willful violations) limitations period and no recovery cap. Dallas County's restaurant, hospitality, healthcare, construction, and domestic-services sectors generate high volumes of wage and tip-credit disputes, and misclassification of workers as independent contractors (common in gig economy, construction, and professional services) is the most frequent underlying issue. Commission disputes in real estate, insurance, and sales organizations are also frequent.

Discrimination, harassment, and retaliation protections under federal law (Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, FLSA anti-retaliation) and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (TCHRA, Tex. Lab. Code Ch. 21) cover Dallas County employers with 15 or more employees (20 for age discrimination). The EEOC's Dallas District Office (207 S. Houston St., 3rd Floor, Dallas TX 75202; 800-669-4000) handles charges for Dallas County workers. In Texas, because the TCHRA enables dual filing, the charge deadline is 300 days from the discriminatory act (longer than the 180-day federal-only deadline). Employees who file discrimination or retaliation charges with the EEOC or TWC are protected from retaliation by law — retaliatory termination, demotion, or adverse action after protected activity is itself a separate claim. Dallas County's diverse and large workforce generates significant EEOC charge volume, and the EEOC Dallas office is among the busiest in the country.

Texas workers' compensation is optional for most private employers, and a significant share of Dallas County employers in construction, landscaping, domestic services, and hospitality operate as non-subscribers. A non-subscriber employer can be sued directly for negligence, and importantly, the employer loses three powerful defenses: contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and the fellow-servant rule — making these claims substantially more favorable for injured workers. For workers at subscribers, third-party suits (against contractors, property owners, equipment manufacturers) remain available and often carry higher value than the workers' comp benefits. The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC; twc.texas.gov) handles unemployment insurance claims, wage complaints, and employment discrimination complaints for state-law purposes. Legal Aid of Northwest Texas (888-529-5277) and the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program (DVAP; 214-243-2243) handle some employment matters for income-qualifying clients, and the State Bar of Texas Lawyer Referral Service (1-800-252-9690) connects workers with employment attorneys.

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