Reddit Post Exposes Texas Vape Shop’s Possibly Illegal New Pay Policy

A Texas vape shop is coming under fire online after a post on the Reddit group r/Texas has gone viral.

The post shows screenshots allegedly from Vape City, which has many locations in Texas and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to the website.

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The now-viral messages appear to refer to a location in Houston, based on comments made by the orginal poster and others in the thread.

What's The Controversy With This Texas Vape Store?

In these texts, an unnamed person communicates that going forward, no employee will be granted over 38 hours in a work week, including managers.

It also expresses that under no circumstances will any employee be paid over 38 hours, and that if an employee does work over those hours, the manager will be responsible for the employee not being paid for them.

You can see the messages here.
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The person who posted the messages accompanied the screenshot with:

They're not paying people for hours worked past 38 even if they're rightfully owed the money I used to be a DM there, and I saw the announcement two hours before they hit me with a layoff to save money, picture attached as proof.

So, I would take some of this with a grain of salt, as the source identifies as a disgruntled ex-employee. However, it brings up an important question about Texas labor laws.

It could also be an empty threat, which, while unprofessional and obnoxious, wouldn't be illegal.

Is It Illegal For A Texas Company To Not Pay For Hours Worked?

This could be illegal under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Texas Payday Act, which stipulates that all non-exempt employees (that is, unsalaried) be paid for every hour worked, and time-and-a-half for overtime.

However, as one commentator said:

Not sure this is actually illegal. If it happened in the past, they have to pay it - they knew and authorized it.

But if they have a policy, enforcement, and intentionally schedule you to not get overtime and you do work overtime, unknowingly to them, a case can be made you acted on your own.

The orginal poster countered that the store is frequently understaffed and that employees cannot simply walk out if they are not relieved in time. Is the employee then expected to work for free?

Remember: if you ever feel you are being illegally underpaid, you can always report it to the Texas Workforce Commission, which was the advice given by many of the commenters in the original thread.

Here's hoping that these employees get treated fairly going forward.