Wage Theft Attorney in Austin, Texas

The Fair Labor Standards Act and Texas Payday Law set minimum standards for how workers must be paid. When employers fall below those standards — whether through misclassification, creative scheduling, illegal deductions, or simply failing to cut the check — employees have legal remedies. The FLSA's liquidated damages provision means successful claimants recover double their unpaid wages, plus attorneys' fees, which makes wage theft cases economically viable for employees even when individual amounts are modest.

The FLSA requires that covered employees receive at least the federal minimum wage ($7.25/hour as of this writing) and overtime pay at 1.5 times their regular rate for all hours worked over 40 in a single workweek. The workweek calculation matters — overtime cannot be averaged across two weeks. A worker who puts in 50 hours one week and 30 the next is owed 10 hours of overtime for the first week, regardless of the 80-hour average. Texas has no state overtime law; the federal standard applies.

Misclassification is the most financially significant form of wage theft in Austin's tech and gig sectors. Employers who misclassify employees as independent contractors avoid payroll taxes, benefits obligations, and wage-and-hour law compliance. But the classification is not the employer's to decide unilaterally — it depends on the actual nature of the working relationship: who controls the work, who provides the tools, whether the relationship is permanent, whether the worker works for multiple clients, and whether the work is integral to the employer's business. The IRS, Department of Labor, and Texas Workforce Commission each apply slightly different tests.

Off-the-clock work is endemic in industries with hourly workers. Requiring employees to arrive early for setup, stay late for cleanup, complete work on their personal phones after hours, or attend mandatory unpaid meetings all constitute FLSA violations if the time is not compensated. The FLSA requires that employers compensate all time they 'suffer or permit' — meaning if the employer knows the work is happening and doesn't stop it, they owe wages for it.

Tip pooling violations affect service workers across Austin's restaurant and hospitality industry. The FLSA permits tip pooling arrangements under specific rules: tips can be pooled among employees who customarily receive tips, but management cannot participate in the pool, and the pool cannot reduce any employee below the minimum wage after the tip credit is applied. The 2018 FLSA amendments further restrict the practices, and Texas law adds additional requirements.

We connect Austin workers who believe wages are being withheld with employment attorneys who evaluate the classification, the compensation practices, and the available records. FLSA collective actions allow similarly situated employees to join together in a single case — which matters when individual wage claims are modest but the employer's practice is systematic.