Texas Employee Handbook

While there are many policies required for all states that you will need to include in your Texas Employee Handbook, below are policies that Texas specifically requires employers to include in their handbooks.

• Texas Employment at Will Policy: Texas in an employment at will state. If there is no binding contract of employment, either the employer or employee can adjust the terms and conditions of employment or terminate the relationship. This can be for any reason or no reason, as well as with or without prior notice. 

• Texas Voting Leave Policy: Texas requires employers to provide employees with paid leave to vote if the polls aren’t open at least two consecutive hours before or after the employee's shift. 

• Personnel File Access Policy: Employers must maintain personnel and payroll records that contain current employee information. If an employee wishes to view their personnel file or payroll records, they must send a written request to the designated department. 

• Texas Final Pay Policy: Texas has special requirements for when an employer must provide the employee with their paycheck depending on how the employment came to an end.
• If the employee is terminated: within six days
• If the employee quits: by the next regular payday
• If the employee dies: to the executor of the state if that is available
• It is prohibited to withhold a final paycheck past these deadlines for any other reason, such as but not limited to, failure to return company property or sign timesheets. If the employer knows or should know what the pay should be, it must deliver the final pay no later than required by law.

• Texas Lactation Accommodations: Reasonable accommodations are required to be provided for nursing mothers.

• Texas Military Leave Policy: Employers are required to include a Texas military leave policy detailing the protections for employees who are deployed for service.  

• Texas Voting Leave Policy: Employers are required to provide employees with leave for voting.

• Workplace Privacy Policy: This policy has multiple facets, including Employee Monitoring, Collecting Biometric Data, Common Law Invasion of Privacy, and Social Security Numbers.
• Employee Monitoring:
• The employer cannot record employee communications or install tracking devices in employee-owned motor vehicles without proper consent. 
• Collecting Biometric Data:
• The Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act (CUBI) regulates employer collection of employee biometric identifiers and prohibits collecting these identifiers for commercial purposes unless the employee has given consent. The identifiers must be provided the same level of security protection as other sensitive and confidential information. They also must be destroyed within a reasonable time, or one year after termination (whichever comes sooner). 
• Common Law Invasion of Privacy:
• The courts in Texas recognize these three of the four common law invasion of privacy claims: intrusion upon the solitude or seclusion of another, public disclosure of private facts, and appropriation of name or likeness. 
• Social Security Numbers:
• Employers are generally prohibited from printing employee Social Security Numbers (SSNs) on any materials sent by mail, including mailed paychecks. 
• It is allowed only if the employer is given the opportunity annually to send a written request for the SSN to not be included, or the mailed material is IRS, Texas Workforce Commission (TWS), or other government-required materials that require a SSN.